Lower Prices, More Local Renewable Electricity For Most In Lexington’s Community Choice Program

Press release from the Town of Lexington:

November 30, 2020

The Lexington Community Choice program, our group electricity-buying program, will offer lower prices to participants for two of the three program offerings starting in January 2021. In addition, the default 100% Green offering will include 20% additional renewable electricity from New England, on top of the minimum amount required by the state, which is four times the 5% additional that is currently included. The changes are the result of a new 36-month electricity supply contract with Constellation.

Offerings

• 100% Green: the offering that most Lexington customers are enrolled in, will drop to 10.80 cents/kWh, which is 0.824 cents/kWh lower than the current price.
• New England Green: provides 100% renewable electricity all from within New England (MA Class I Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs), will rise 0.791 cents/kWh to 13.219 cents/kWh. The increase is largely because of an increase in the cost of renewable electricity.
• Basic: provides only the minimum amount of renewable electricity required by state law, will drop to 9.935 cents/kWh, which is 1.559 cents/kWh lower than the current price.

What is the Community Choice Program?

Our Community Choice program is a group electricity buying program from the Town of Lexington for residents and businesses and offers a Town-vetted alternative to other electricity supply offers in the marketplace. Our Community Choice program offers cleaner, renewable electricity, long-term pricing, and consumer protections, such as the ability to leave the program at any time with no penalty or fees.

Participating in the program changes the price that Eversource uses to calculate the supply charge portion of participants’ electricity bills. Electricity delivery charges are not impacted by participation in Lexington’s Community Choice program.

More information is available by visiting the program website at MassPowerChoice.com/Lexington.

Current Participant? No Action Necessary

Current participants in our Community Choice program do not need to take any action to participate in the new electricity supply contract. All active program participants will be automatically enrolled into the new program with their end-of December meter read, and they will see the new prices on their Eversource electricity bill in late January or early February. The new prices are fixed until December 2023 and will apply to all rate classes, including residential, small business, and large business.

Enrolling as a New Customer, or Opting-Up

Customers who wish to enroll in the program as a new participant, opt up to New England Green, or opt down to Basic, may do so via customer support at 1-844-379-9935 or online at MassPowerChoice.com/Lexington. Lexington’s Community Choice participants always have the right to leave, or opt out, of the program at any time with no penalty.

Additional Information

In addition to providing some savings when compared with current program prices, the new prices for 100% Green and Basic will also be lower than Eversource’s winter 2021 residential Basic Service price of 11.882 cents/kWh. However, the new prices are 36-month prices while Eversource’s winter Basic Service price is a short-term price. Eversource’s prices change every 6 months for residential and small business customers and every 3 months for large business customers, and future prices are not known. As a result, future savings compared with Eversource’s prices cannot be guaranteed.

This press release was produced by the Town of Lexington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.