Green Your Electricity

Summary: Make the Switch to a community energy aggregation program to start saving money and using cleaner energy! Stick with Ashland for Green Electricity!

Description

Ashland is continuing its Municipal Aggregation Program for residents and businesses. The new program rate is $0.15988 per kWh as of December 2023 and uses 87 percent green energy, which is derived from local renewable energy certificates. This will save you money over the Eversource default rate of $0.17216 per kWh and supports cleaner electricity generated in New England. Ashland’s Municipal Aggregation Program will help reduce the consumption of fossil fuels while supporting the building of new green energy infrastructure. No action is required by individual consumers. All accounts currently enrolled in the program continue to be enrolled.

If you are not already enrolled, recently moved to Ashland, previously declined the Municipal Aggregation Program, or switched to another provider, make sure to opt-in to the new Ashland Program by checking on your Eversource bill that the energy provider (supplier) is DYNEGY TOWN OF ASHLAND. Be aware that many outside sources have a low startup rate and raise their prices after 6 months and may have penalties to opt out of their program. 

To sign up for the Ashland Municipal Aggregation Program, click “Steps To Take” on the tabs above.

Deep Dive

Ashland's Community Aggregation rate of $0.15998 per kWh is effective through December 2025, as compared to the Eversource default rate which changes every six months (the current Eversource rate is effective from January 1, 2024 through July 31, 2024, which is a one-time 7-month rate period instituted to reset the winter season changeover from January 1 to February 1 starting in 2025 in an effort to spread out the increased cost of electricity and natural gas supply during the winter heating months).

The Ashland Community Aggregation electricity supply is "cleaner" than the default Eversource electricity supply because Colonial Power Group purchases renewable energy credits (RECs) created by solar, hydroelectric, wind, and other renewable energy producers located in New England to match an additional 25 percentage points above the state-mandated floor of renewable energy supply known as the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Requirement (MA REQ). For 2024, the MA REQ is 62.3% clean energy supply, and it increases a few percentage points every year. For 2024, the Colonial Power Group is required to purchase RECs matching 62.3 + 25 = 87.3% of the power consumed by participating residents. A producer generally earns a REC for every 1,000 kWh of clean electricity it generates; it can then sell that REC to an electricity supplier like Eversource or Colonial Power Group, who can pair any purchased RECs with energy directly purchased from a clean energy supplier so that the supplier's total portfolio of procured energy meets or exceeds the MA REQ of 62.3% in 2024. 

The prior Ashland Community Aggregation rate which had been in effect from December 2020 through December 2023 matched 100% of power consumed with national wind RECs. Which begs the question, is it bad that our program went from 100% to 87.3% REC matching? Not necessarily. The key to comparing the two programs is that "national wind RECs" are credits associated with energy generated by a large wind farm somewhere in the Midwest, likely at very low cost and having a distant (at best) relationship to Ashland.  In contrast, the current program has committed to purchasing RECs from a variety of clean energy producers in New England, which theoretically supports local producers and may have additional benefits like avoiding pollution in our neighborhoods to the extent that developers install additional solar, wind and hydroelectric projects due in part to healthy demand for their RECs even if such projects are more expensive per kWh than alternatives like a solar project in the Arizona desert or a wind project in Kansas.

Steps to Take

1. Visit Colonial Power Group's website to learn more about switching to a cleaner and cheaper energy provider (switching is free!)
2. Enroll in just 5 minutes! All you need is your Eversource (or other electricity provider's) account number. Nothing changes with your electricity.
3. You will receive an email confirmation from Colonial Power group and should see the change reflected on your electricity bill in 1-2 billing cycles.