Jaffrey is seeking feedback from residents on a proposed draft plan to start a community power program in town.

Community power is a program that allows a town to purchase electricity for its residents and businesses for cost savings or sourced from renewable energy. If the voters approve the plan, the town can provide electricity supply options for its residents.

Jaffrey is joining several surrounding communities, including Peterborough, Wilton and Keene, that are exploring community power options in the coming year.

In December, the Select Board approved the creation of a Community Power Committee, including board representative and committee Chair Kevin Chamberlain, Peter Davis, Margaret Dillon, Sue Sturges and Elizabeth Webster.

The committee has put out a survey to gain more information about what the town residents desire in their energy sourcing, which is currently posted on the town’s website.

A draft community power plan, posted to the town website on Dec. 18, outlines the process it will be undertaking this spring to educate the public about the proposed, including public hearings on the plan and a vote at Town Meeting.

In an interview Friday, Chamberlain said the town has been discussing the possibility of adopting a community power plan since last spring, but the discussion has been tabled to allow the Public Utilities Commission to finish adopting rules for reviewing community power plans. That was accomplished earlier this year.

Chamberlain said the hope is to have a plan in place to be approved by Town Meeting in March.

“We’re on an expedited schedule, but we feel confident we can get it done,” Chamberlain said.

Proponents of community power cite two main benefits – the opportunity to seek better rates at any time and more flexibility in where the power is coming from.

The utility default rate is determined twice per year. Under a community power program, the town can “shop” for better rates, and lock into longer-term contracts that have less fluctuation, allowing the town to take advantage of market timing and group buying power to get the lowest possible rate.

Chamberlain said that buying power is especially important now, as consumers are facing spiking electricity rates.

“All of us are concerned about it,” Chamberlain said. “A number of people have taken steps to receive electricity supply from a third party. But a lot of people don’t understand their electric bill, and may not know they even have the option to shop for their supply,” Chamberlain said. “Hopefully this process will make them more aware, and give them a little more control over their electric bill. We think there’s an opportunity out there, especially as we watch this roll out in other communities, to be able to lower energy costs for our citizens.”

Communities such as Keene Community Power outline four total options for those participating in the program – a proposal similar to Jaffrey’s draft plan. According to Jaffrey’s draft plan, which Chamberlain said is modeled after agreements already approved by the PUC, at launch, the program expects to offer a default rate and at least three other options.

The default product is expected to include between 5 and 10 percent more renewable energy sources than required by the state minimum, with the exact amount determined after the receipt of bids from suppliers.

While the default isn’t guaranteed to be cheaper than the current default rate being paid by residents, it is expected to be competitive with it. All residents will be automatically enrolled in this plan, unless they opt out or manually choose a different option.

There is also a “basic” plan, which includes no additional renewable energy sources beyond what is required by the state. It likely will offer the lowest price in the program. Residents will also have the option for receiving either 50 or 100 percent of their energy from renewable sources, which are expected to be more expensive than the current default rate.

What those rates will be, and the potential difference from Eversource’s default rate, are yet to be determined.

“We won’t know what those numbers are, until we go out for bid, and see what the costs and terms would be,” Chamberlain said.

The delivery of the electricity will remain through Eversource and the current wires and poles that already service the town – what may change is the sources where that electricity comes from. Eversource will continue to own and manage distribution poles and wires and billing, and will respond to outages and provide other forms of customer service and repairs.

For those on electric assistance or who are participating in a net metering program, those benefits will not be changed.

The program will provide a new default service for eligible customers, but residents are not required to participate. All customers have the option to opt out, and can leave the program at any time. They can also rejoin or join for the first time at any time they choose, without penalties or fees.

Residents currently on a competitive supply who are not eligible for automatic enrollment could still opt into the program.

The survey to submit input regarding the Community Power Plan and current and desired energy uses is available at surveymonkey.com/r/jaffreycp. Paper copies of the survey are available at the town office and Jaffrey Public Library. A copy of the draft community power plan and other information about community power is available at townofjaffrey.com/community-power.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.