At the July 16, 2024 Select Board meeting, Hopkinton’s Sustainability, Economic Development, and Equity Project Manager Julia Chun introduced the board to Hopkinton Power Choice, an initiative her office has been working on for more than a year, aimed at stabilizing electricity prices for residents. 

The program is known as a Municipal Aggregation plan, which allows towns to use their increased buying power to purchase electricity on behalf of residents. More than 200 towns in the Commonwealth have a similar program.

“Our research showed that over the past 3-5 years that towns that had aggregation plans, the vast majority of them were paying below market rates, while our rates [over the same period] were going up and down, usually up,” offered Sustainable Green Committee Chair Geoff Rowland at the July 16 meeting. 

Municipal Aggregation was originally authorized by the Select Board in 2013, but they later determined that the terms were not “advantageous to residents,” according to Town Manager Elaine Lazarus. Subsequently the state program has changed, which prompted the town manager’s office to reengage in the process.

An obvious benefit to Municipal Aggregation is lower electricity bills for Hopkinton home and business owners. While the town does not guarantee prices will be lower, consumers may be protected from rate increases because the town will enter into long-term contracts with one or more suppliers whereas Eversource (the town’s current supplier) has the statutory right to adjust rates every six months. 

Another goal of the program is to allow residents greater control over where their electricity comes from, including renewable sources such as wind and solar.

While municipal aggregation for electricity can offer several benefits, such as potential cost savings and increased use of renewable energy, there are potential downsides. Some municipalities have had challenges with ensuring that the contracted supplier can consistently meet the community’s energy needs. Additionally, participants in a municipal aggregation may end up subsidizing others. Suppliers might offer lower prices for the group as a whole, but individual consumers with better credit or usage profiles might be able to secure more advantageous rates on their own.

How Municipal Aggregation Works

Today, Eversource acts as both the Supplier and Deliverer of electricity to Hopkinton households. Eversource’s monthly bill includes both a Supply fee and a Delivery fee.

Under Hopkinton Power Choice, Eversource will continue to handle the billing and delivery of power to households and businesses, but the supply will be provided by one or more third parties that the town will select through a Request for Proposal process. This will enable competitive bidding, and in theory could lead to reduced prices and greener service.

The town intends to auto-enroll residents into this program, but also offers an opt-out for residents if desired. Three plans will be offered, differentiated by their percentage of renewable sources. The price per kilowatt hour and percentage of renewable sources will be set by the winning bidder, but presumably the cost for the “100% Green” option will be more than the “Hopkinton Basic” plan. Residents will be auto-enrolled in the middle tier program.

State law requires Hopkinton’s electricity supplier to purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from other sources, including sources that are not new and are renewable but not clean, such as waste to energy, or are clean but not renewable, such as nuclear.

Residents that are low income or qualify for fuel assistance will continue to see those benefits, as will the owners of solar panels. 

Next Steps

From August 8 to September 9 the town is inviting public comment on their draft plan, which is available here. Written comments may be submitted via email to jchun@hopkintonma.gov or via US Mail to 18 Main St Hopkinton, MA. Comments sent by mail must be received (not postmarked) by the end of the comment period in order to be addressed. 

The town will also hold a public hearing on August 15 at 7:00 at Town Hall to unveil the plan.

Following the public comment period, the town will issue an RFP for electricity suppliers. A sample of suppliers with published rates can be found on the state’s website, Energy Switch Massachusetts.