Newton Power Choice is going to be a group electricity purchasing program, known as aggregation, that will be provided by the City for its residents and businesses. Eversource will still deliver the electricity to our homes, however the city will select an electricity supplier for the community and it will have the opportunity to add more renewable energy than state law requires.
Green Newton, as part of the Newton Coalition for Climate Action (NCCA), strongly supports a 40% standard option (above the current 13% state requirement) of New England Class 1 renewable electricity in the initial aggregation contract.
As of July 30, 19 City Councilors, Senator Creem, Representatives Kay Khan and Ruth Balser, 13 organizations, and nearly 700 Newton Residents have signed our “letter of support.” See our list of those who have already signed.
1. Please read our letter of support.
2. Please sign to show your support for the 40% Renewables Standard.
Massachusetts law requires that Eversource Basic Service customers be automatically enrolled in the aggregation program, unless they have signed a contract with an electricity supplier, and if they wish, they may “opt into” the program. Residents and businesses may choose to “opt out” of the program before being enrolled or at any time after enrollment with no fee or penalty. Other choices include “opt down” to receive no additional renewable energy electricity above the state law requirement or “opt up” to 100% renewable electricity.
The average bill of $100 a month would go up around $5. While enrollment in the Standard Plan is automatic, all ratepayers would have the choice to easily move to one of the other Newton Power Choice options or opt out altogether and stay with Eversource – no penalty. To learn more, please visit https://masspowerchoice.com/newton and http://newtonclimateaction.org/newton-power-choice/
We see this as having the potential to be the most environmentally beneficial step to be taken by our City since 2014 when over 8,400 street lights were replaced with more energy efficient LEDs!
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