Cape Light Compact News Release:
Cape Light Compact has set the electricity prices for its green aggregation power supply program for the next six-month term, beginning on December 2018 meter read dates and ending on June 2019 meter read dates for residential and small commercial customers. With this new pricing for the upcoming term, the Compact’s power supply program will continue to provide cost savings to customers against the utility’s basic service pricing and support renewable energy resources.
The Compact’s new residential pricing, which starts on customers’ December meter read dates, will be 13.699 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), and they should see this price reflected on the bills that they receive in January.
“We are happy to be able to provide Cape Cod and Vineyard residents with a renewable power supply that continues to beat the utility’s basic service rate while exceeding state requirements for renewables. Unlike many third-party suppliers, our supply is contract free and doesn’t come with any hidden fees or surprises,” said Maggie Downey, Cape Light Compact Administrator.
The Compact is also pleased to announce that NextEra Energy Services of Massachusetts was selected to continue providing service to the Compact’s power supply customers as a result of a competitive solicitation undertaken by the Compact earlier this year. Alongside the Compact’s agreement with NextEra Energy Services to provide service to Cape Light Compact customers, the Compact will also purchase both renewable power and renewable energy certificates (RECs) from a solar farm currently under development in Farmington, Maine.
Since December 2016, the Compact’s green aggregation power supply program has supported renewable resources by matching all customers’ electricity usage with renewable energy certificates (RECs), by purchasing RECs from New England-based projects above Massachusetts state requirements, and by helping to finance new renewable energy projects directly through the EarthEra Renewable Energy Trust, including a solar farm in Vermont. This power purchase agreement, solicited and selected as part of the competitive power supply request for proposals, will take the Compact’s support for renewable energy one step further by directly helping to finance the construction and operation of a new renewable energy facility right here in New England through a long-term contract. It is estimated that the Farmington solar project will provide energy and RECs to meet approximately 1% of the Compact’s annual power supply load. While this may seem small as a percentage, it equates to an estimated 180,000 megawatt hours over the course of the power purchase agreement. Since the Compact’s implementation of its green aggregation program, the Compact has been able to maintain lower residential pricing than the local utility while exceeding the mandated Massachusetts Renewable Portfolio Standard.
“NextEra Energy Services has been very effective in providing the Compact’s customers with low-cost, renewable energy over the last several years. When they submitted the most competitive proposal earlier this year to provide service to our customers, we were thrilled that it was an easy choice to continue working with them. We are excited to expand our relationship with NextEra Energy Services through the solar power purchase agreement, which will increase Compact customers’ support of New England-based renewable energy,” said Maggie Downey, Compact Administrator.
“NextEra Energy Services is very happy to have been selected by the Compact and to expand our business relationship. NextEra Energy Services is one of the largest suppliers to opt-out municipal aggregations in the United States. NextEra Energy is also the nation’s largest owner and operator of solar and wind generation. Our team worked diligently with the Compact to understand its initiatives and business challenges, and we are very happy that the Compact’s customers will be able to benefit from these joint efforts,” said Mark Palanchian, Vice President and Managing Director of Origination at NextEra Energy Marketing.
The Compact’s new commercial rate for December 2018 through June 2019 meter read dates will be 13.299 cents per kWh and the industrial rate for the period of December 2018 through March 2019 meter reads will be 16.299 cents per kWh.
The increase in pricing as compared to the Compact’s current rates is due to higher New England-wide market electricity prices during the winter months, which all retail suppliers purchasing power from the market are subject to. When facing higher electric bills due to these regional winter price spikes, the Compact always reminds customers to look for ways to save energy to reduce their bills by using less kilowatt-hours.
“While we are excited to continue offering an affordable and renewable power supply, we still like to remind our customers that the quickest way to reduce your energy bill is by using less, and the best way to do that is to make sure your house or business is as efficient as possible. Cape Light Compact offers business and home energy assessments which can help get you on track to save money and keep warm this winter. We encourage customers to call our energy efficiency hotline at 1-800-797-6699 to get started,” said Downey.
The Compact also plans to roll out a new, opt-in power supply option in January that will allow customers that choose to pay a little more to get up to 100% of their electricity usage matched with RECs from local New England-based renewable energy facilities. The program is still under development, and the Compact will announce more details in early January on pricing, REC sources, and how to enroll.