Town Exploring "CCA" Renewable Electricity Program

ANDOVER, MA — Interested in your electricity coming from renewable sources? Worried about the price you might have to pay? The town is currently exploring participating in "Community Choice Aggregation," a state-regulated program where municipalities buy electricity in bulk, with a higher fraction of renewable energy than required by state law.

There will be an informational meeting on the program at the Memorial Hall Library, Wednesday Jan 8 at 7 p.m. In order to implement the program, the town would require authorization from town meeting, as well as approval from both the select board and the state. National Grid would remain the distributor and billing agent. Currently, nearly 150 municipalities participate in CCA.

Deputy Town Manager Michael Lindstrom and Patrick Roche of Good Energy, a company which designs community aggregation programs, presented the program to the select board at their December 16 meeting. According to the presentation, in addition to increasing the renewable energy mix, aggregation would increase rate stability, and potentially save residents money, by bidding for energy off of the fixed schedule that basic service follows.

If the town launched a CCA program, residents would be automatically enrolled but would be able to opt out without any penalties, before or after launch, Roche said. After town meeting approval, it often takes over a year for CCA to go into effect.

A web app created by Andover CCA shows potential energy mixes and costs for a set of Andover houses, using real CCA programs in other communities. Most CCA programs, including some with 100 percent renewable energy, are cheaper in most scenarios, according to the app.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.