Hillsborough Sun

On Monday, March 13, 2023, Mayor Jim Donchess and the Community Power Coalition of NH announced Nashua Community Power will be supplying electricity at 15.8 cents per kilowatt hour beginning in May. Mayor Donchess' remarks are as follows:

"Last week, the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire voted to procure power and set rates. We went to the market on behalf of 67,000 electric customers in our ten communities.

And today, we are announcing that we will be supplying electricity at a rate of 15.8 cents per kilowatt-hour.

If you’re an Eversource customer, that’s 22% lower than the price you are paying now, and for a typical household, it means $25 a month that’s back in your pocket.

When Nashua Community Power launches this May, customers in the City that take power supply from Eversource will automatically begin to feel rate relief and a reduction in their electricity costs.

Nashua Community Power also expands energy choices for all of our electric customers. Through Nashua Community Power, any electric customer in the City can choose from a menu of power options, including opting to buy 100% renewable power at a cost that is lower than the current Eversource supply cost.

To emphasize — more than 36,000 Nashua electric customers will see a 22% reduction in their energy supply costs starting in May of this year. And all electric customers in Nashua now have the option of buying 100% renewable power at a rate that is lower than the current Eversource supply rate.

During the first three months, Nashua Community Power will save our residents and businesses $2.6 million; this will also generate $4.5 million in financial reserves across all ten participating New Hampshire communities, to ensure long-term benefits of lower costs and development of local projects.

The City of Nashua is committed to leading the development of a more sustainable and cost-effective energy system for our residents and businesses, and for our state as a whole.

Nashua has taken aggressive action to start clean energy projects to better control our energy costs and to lessen the environmental impacts of our energy use. We have invested in solar generation capacity across numerous city and school buildings. The City owns and operates two hydroelectric generation facilities. We have invested in hybrid-electric buses for public transportation. Our Environment and Energy Committee and municipal staff have led multiple other initiatives from upgrading building efficiency, to conducting solarize and other community campaigns, to raise public awareness for beneficial energy options.

 In city facilities, operations, and public transportation, Nashua has led by example on clean energy. Now it is time to expand that leadership and the benefits of clean energy innovation to all of Nashua’s residents and businesses.

Community Power offers substantial additional benefits beyond the immediate cost-savings. It empowers Nashua and other communities to accumulate reserve funds to provide long-term rate stability, and to finance investments in innovative local programs and energy projects that will make our city more resilient. Over time we will expand Nashua Community Power offerings to include hydropower from our city-owned generators, and to develop local renewable energy projects like solar and battery storage that to supply affordable local power directly to the people and business of Nashua.

I am incredibly proud of the leadership of Nashua city staff, chiefly Energy Manager Doria Brown, who has worked alongside other municipal leaders from across the state for years to make Community Power a reality. This is a transformative model, not just for Nashua, but for our fellow New Hampshire cities and towns statewide. We look forward to working with all of you in the coming months, years, and decades to build a better New Hampshire economy for all of us."

To learn more about Nashua Community Power, visit https://www.communitypowernh.gov/nashua.

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Original source can be found here.