Community Power

BRINGING NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENTS AND BUSINESS OWNERS CLEANER ENERGY AT COMPETITIVE RATES

WHAT IS COMMUNITY POWER?

Under a Community Power program, a local government such as a city, town, or county, may procure electricity on behalf of its their residents and businesses on a competitive basis. Community Power programs enable economies of scale associated with bulk purchasing power to lower electricity costs for communities. Community Power programs democratize energy sector governance by enabling local communities to choose where their electricity comes from. By bypassing outdated regulations and legacy technologies, these programs can harness private-sector innovation to lower costs for customers and provide other energy services.

Electric distribution utilities (e.g., Eversource, Liberty Utilities, NH Electric Cooperative, and Unitil) continue to deliver electricity to customers via their transmission distribution systems.

Community Power is sometimes referred to as “municipal aggregation” or “community choice aggregation.”

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

By aggregating purchasing power across a community, and by having greater flexibility in energy contracting than regulated utilities, Community Power programs can harness private sector innovation to lower costs for their customers.

Community Power programs may choose to purchase power based on other attributes such as renewable sources.

Community Power programs can also be a vehicle to construct local renewable energy projects to be the source of power for the program.

HOW DOES A LOCAL GOVERNMENT FORM A COMMUNITY POWER PROGRAM?

The first step for a local government to implement a Community Power program is for the local governing body – select board, town council, city council, or county commission – to form an electric aggregation committee to develop a Community Power Plan. Multiple towns, cities, or counties may group together to form committees to develop these plans.

Once the Community Power plan has been finalized it must be approved for implementation by the local government’s legislative body (e.g., town meeting vote, city council vote).

NH COMMUNITY POWER PROVIDERS

HOW DO I LEARN MORE ABOUT COMMUNITY POWER?

View our downloadable PDF here or contact us at hello@cleanenergynh.org.

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