Save the date for this community conversation planned for May 4 about renewable energy. One topic that we can talk about is community power. 

In our view, as towns and cities launch their community power programs, they will be able to collectively accelerate the rate at which New Hampshire reduces its carbon footprint. Harrisville voted to adopt its program at Town Meeting May 2021. Through community dialogue leading up to that vote, we came to understand the potential of community power in terms of affording competitive and stable rates, providing the means for local energy projects and workforce development investment, assuming local control of rates and services and securing access to greater amounts of clean energy.

That is because community power permits all residents and businesses in town to acquire electricity supply as a group, negotiating for bulk rates and to acquire more carbon-free and/or renewables in their electricity supply. 

Our startup program objectives will be to offer electric supply rates for participants that will be equal to or less than the Eversource default rate. The program will also offer a multi-tier rate plan that offers more carbon-free energy (up to 100%) than what is offered by Eversource (up to 25.2% by 2025). In other words, it would include greater amounts of clean power and multiple options for each participating household and business to choose the most affordable rate plan. 

Further out in the program, we envision community resiliency projects that support homeowners and businesses to adopt new clean energy technologies and reduce their energy consumption, support training and education programs and pursue longer-term projects such as building backup power supplies, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and community microgrids.

Irrespective of the timeline for those milestones, though, at launch, community power will provide greater access to affordable, green energy supply for everyone. And through community power, everyone can respond to the climate crisis — and in doing that we collectively reduce greenhouse fuel emissions and have cleaner air.

Let’s talk about it at the upcoming community conversation.

Andrea Hodson is a member of the Harrisville Electric Aggregation Committee.