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March 2024 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM Page 13 Community
Town of Bristol to Consider Joining Community Power of NH at Spring Town Meeting
At the Bristol Town Meeting on March 16th, Bristol residents will be voting on a Warrant Arti- cle to adopt the Bristol Commu- nity Power Plan and join dozens of other New Hampshire cities and towns that are taking control of their energy future. The pri- mary reason for this is to achieve lower costs for electricity, and the goal of improved energy related services.
Some History
New Hampshire has a reg- ulated power market that con- sists of four primary geographic regions serviced by providers, Eversource, NH Electric Co- Op, Until, and Liberty Utilities. The Public Utilities Commission provides oversight to regulate these three monopolies. Prior to 1996, these utilities were single suppliers of generation, trans- mission, and distribution of our electricity. In 1996 New Hamp- shire was the first in the nation to deregulate the electricity market forcing the utilities to divest of generation, and handle only the transmission and distribution of electricity in NH. The idea was to harness market forces in the form of competition among power generators to force down the cost of electricity and foster innovation. Today, New Hamp-
shire residents have a choice of generation providers, and market forces have arguably driven down the cost of power generation. But innovation has been slow or nonexistent with consumers largely utilizing the same system designed by Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.
Recent Changes
In 2019 RSA 53-E was passed by the NH legislature referred to as the Community Power Law. The legislation gives cities and towns the authority to become the default electricity suppliers for their residents and businesses with the goal of expanding in- novation in the power market to lower energy costs and provide more options for customers. On March 17th Bristol Town Meet- ing residents will be voting on whether to join the non-profit organization. The Community Power Coalition of New Hamp- shire is focused on providing members with more control over the cost, source, and related ser- vices of their electricity.
In October of 2021, thirteen municipalities and one county joined together to incorporate the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire as a nonprofit power agency. Launched last April with 14 member commu-
nities, it now has more than 50 members, including two counties (Cheshire and Merrimack), with 20 more communities poised to come on board later this year. If the Warrant Article passes at the town meeting, Bristol residents will have the opportunity to be- come a member of the coalition and participate in those energy savings. There is no cost to the town or residents for joining the coalition.
The Benefits for Bristol
The immediate benefit for the town of Bristol residents is a lower cost of electricity, with a broader choice of options. For example, the “Granite Basic” plan offers electricity at 8.1 cents per KWH, a savings of 24% off Unitil's resi- dential rate, 20% off NH Electric Co-op’s, 17% off Liberty's, and 2% off Eversource's. But there are also options for renewable en- ergy sources from 33% to 100% for those who would like those options. And plans are underway to provide members with more innovative services such as Time Varying Rates and Local Battery Storage that can offer significant reductions in energy costs for homes and businesses.
But What is the Catch?
There is none. Bristol can join
the nonprofit Community Power Coalition by the Select Board Vote and can authorize Bristol Community Power by Town Meeting vote. There is no cost to join the Coalition, and the costs of operating Bristol Community Power are paid for by partici- pating customers through their monthly electric payments. Cus- tomers can opt out of the pro- gram at any time at no cost and rejoin at a future point if they desire. The billing, support, and delivery of power remains with your current supplier (Eversource or NH Electric Co-Op). The Co- alition is a non-profit funded by customers. There is no tax im- pact on the town, or individual customers.
The Future
There is a rapid transfor- mation occurring in the energy market. The shift away from fossil fuels is renewable forms of energy is occurring at a fast pace.
Likewise, the deployment of roof- top solar and local energy storage solutions is providing homeown- ers and businesses the opportu- nity to significantly reduce their energy costs. However, because our default supplier is not inter- ested in supplying these services to Bristol residents, we’ve had no alternative. By joining the Com- munity Power Coalition of New Hampshire, Bristol residents will have an opportunity to actively participate in the benefits of the energy transition and enjoy lower energy costs and improved ser- vices.
An overview of the Com- munity Power Program can be viewed at https://www.bristolnh. gov/home/news/communi- ty-power-program-overview
For a complete list of Frequent Asked Questions about the Com- munity Power Coalition, please refer to this webpage at: www. communitypowernh.gov/faqs
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