Post date: Mar 04, 2021 8:4:23 PM
From Colonial Power:
Per our discussion, this morning, about the Low-Income Community Solar for Williamstown’s municipal aggregation program. This program was developed by Colonial to further enhance the Town’s renewable energy goals, while delivering the benefits to the residential assistance customers participating in the Town of Williamstown’s municipal aggregation program. This Low-Income Community Solar program is a paradigm change in the way that aggregated communities can help residential assistance customers while creating real additionality (creating new renewables on the electrical system) on the grid. We are able to do all this, with zero cost, to the Town, or the residential assistance customer, to implement this program.
Colonial works with solar developers under the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program to create projects for the Town’s municipal aggregation program. The Town agrees to deliver the low-income solar discount (targeted to be 2 cents per kWh) to the residential assistance customers participating in the Town municipal aggregation program. Under this program, all the Town is doing is allowing the discounts to flow through the aggregation program to the individual residential assistance customers. The residential assistance customers do not have a contract with the solar developer and can come and go from the Town municipal aggregation program at any time without fee or penalty. The Town will not require any additional staffing or tax dollars to implement this program. The only commitment for the Town is that it continues to flow these benefits to residential assistance customers in the municipal aggregation program for the 20-year term required under SMART.
The Town would continue go out to bid for new municipal aggregation supply contracts exactly the way it currently does, Colonial will work with the wining retail supplier to facilitate the low-income discount to the residential assistance customers in the program. So, under the current Williamstown contract with Dynegy, currently residential assistance customers pay $0.10617 per kWh. Once, the program is up and running, residential assistance customers would pay $0.08617 per kwh. This is a 20% savings for the residential assistance customers participating in the Town’s municipal aggregation program, this in addition to the 32% discount residential assistance customers will receive from National Grid, off the total bill. In 2019 the Town’s program averaged 126 customers and 60,537 kWh monthly, this represents $14,529 in savings, for these customers, each year they are in the program. Over the 20-year term of the program customs would receive $290,557 in savings. This all comes at no cost and no commitment to these customers.
There is still some process behind this. Right now, there is some inter-agency review happening between Dept of Energy Resources and Department of Public Utilities which is anticipated to be resolved soon. Colonial will match us with a solar project being developed in National Grid's service area (not Williamstown, but in the region) and then the sample agreements attached below will be executed between the Town, developer and Colonial. I'm looking for the authorization to enter into the agreements once the state gives the final green light. They've already reserved capacity for us and we will be the first in line in the Berkshires to do so. Assuming everything stays on track on the bureaucratic end and the development end, this reduced rate should be making it onto customer bills by the 3rd quarter of this year.