KEENE, NH – Dozens of Keene residents turned out for the city’s first informational meeting on the Community Power Plan.
The program is set to launch in June and is meant to offer Keene residents and businesses competitive or below-market electricity supply rates, while accelerating growth of local renewable energy by bundling customers together.
Keene, in partnership with the towns of Marlborough, Swanzey, and Wilton, chose Direct Energy as its electricity supplier for the program, and hired Standard Power as the consultant on the project.
At the first meeting in Keene Tuesday evening, Senior City Planner Mari Brunner and Bob Hayden of Standard Power explained the program and answered questions from the community.
Many residents were questioning the process of opting in or opting out of the program. Anyone who is currently on Eversource’s default rate will automatically be enrolled in the program in the Keene Local Green tier, which offer 33% renewable energy at 11.470 cents per kilowatt hour. The Eversource default rate offers 23% renewable energy at 20.221 cents per kWh.
The automatic enrollment tier is not the cheapest, the program offers the “Keene Basic” tier which offers 23% renewable energy at 11.100 cents per kWh. The Keene 50% Local Green tier is set at 12.050 cents per kWh, and Keene 100% Local Green is set at 13.900 cents per kWh.
Hayden said that tier was chosen as the default due to survey results from the community.
The prices are guaranteed for 30 months, until December 2025. Anyone can opt in or out of the program at any time, however the deadline to opt out before the start of the program is May 15th.
Eversource will continue to handle billing and maintenance.
Questions also surrounded Net Metering (NEM). Hayden said NEM customer’s will keep any existing bank of kWh or dollar credits, any banked value will continue to be applied toward the cost of future bills, and customers that get a cash-out check annually cannot do so while in the Keene program. NEM 1.0/Standard customers will continue to receive full kWh credit for their generation, and NEW 2.0/Alternative customers will receive partial dollar credit for their generation.
Residents should have received informational post cards regarding the project, followed by either an opt in or out form.
Anyone with questions should contact Direct Energy Supplier at 866-968-8065, or Brunner’s office at 603-352-5440 or community development@keenenh.gov. Anyone needing net metering assistance should call he help line at 877-877-1670 ext. 3.
A second meeting in Keene is set for May 2nd at 6 pm at Keene City Hall. This meeting will be held virtually as well on the Zoom platform, registration can be found here. The town of Marlborough held their meeting Tuesday evening as well, and the Town of Swanzey will hold theirs Wednesday evening at 6 pm at Whitcomb hall. More information on Keene’s program is available here.
