Above: Most residents who don’t act will see a change on their electrical bills this winter. But the Town is holding sessions to explain the change and answer questions. (image right from past Town announcement about the Municipal Aggregation Plan)
This winter, the Town notified residents about changes that will impact them if they don’t opt out of the new Municipal Aggregation Plan. This week, officials are holding two informational sessions on the topic.
The sessions offer chances for anyone with questions to get some clarity. To help you decide whether to be part of the electrical supplier rollover or opt out, the Town is holding sessions tomorrow, Tuesday, January 9th:
- 12:00 pm, Senior Center at Cordaville Hall, 9 Cordaville Road – for seniors, lunch to be provided
- 7:00 pm, Hearing Room, Town House, 17 Common Street – this session will also be broadcast by SAM*
If you aren’t sure what I’m referring to, here’s a brief recap:
With past permission from voters, the Town pursued then entered a Municipal Aggregation Plan for electricity. It goes into effect this winter. It was adopted to provide savings to most residents/property owners in Southborough.**
Some residents may have already set up special contracts with energy suppliers. They won’t be effected (unless they choose to). Everyone else’s plans will roll over to the new electrical supplier by default unless they opt out by January 22nd.
(If you miss that deadline, or change your mind after it, you’re still able to opt out at anytime without a penalty.)
Electricity will still be “delivered” by National Grid. NGrid will continue to be responsible for all the power lines and even for billing residents. The only change you’ll see is in the supplier fee section of the bill.
The Town pursued this plan as a way to avoid risk from any jumps in energy prices. The plan can’t actually promise long term savings. Instead it promises price stability with the probability of savings.
The pitched savings are based on locked in prices that are lower than NGrid’s current “winter Basic Service rate”. But NGrid rates will continue to fluctuate, while the new plan rate will remain flat through February 2020. According to Town Administrator Mark Purple, NGrid changes its rates about every 6 months.
For more details, see my dedicated post from December.
Click here to see a copy of the mailer that was sent out.
*Southborough Access Media will broadcast the meeting live on Verizon-37 and Charter-192. Click here to see this week’s schedule with rebroadcast times. (Videos are also usually made available through their YouTube channel.)
Updated (1/10/18 4:05 pm): It seems that some of my info that I shared in past posts on the Municipal Aggregation Plan was incorrect. According to statements by a selectman and the Town’s consultant, the program was created for the purpose of saving residents and businesses money.
