Town officials explore options for renewing ‘Electricity Choice’

After a successful first two years following the adoption of a new municipal energy aggregation program dubbed “Canton Electricity Choice,” town leaders are now setting their sights on a potential renewal of the program — assuming, of course, that the price is still right.

That was the key takeaway from a presentation to the Select Board Tuesday night by a group that included Town Administrator Charles Doody, Energy Advisory Committee Chair Tom Birmingham, and Paul Gromer of Mass Power Choice.

According to Doody, the town’s initial two-year supply contract with Constellation NewEnergy proved to be a win-win for customers, and with the deal set to expire this June, officials are cautiously optimistic that they can lock in another favorable arrangement that would at least beat the rates charged by Eversource for its basic service plan.

“I think the first attempt at the energy aggregation program was a success,” noted Doody. “We think that clearly it utilized more renewable energy than we had in the past and it saved our taxpayers money (roughly $2.5 million in total compared to Eversource’s rates). With that being said, we have to see what the bids are, and again if we can make it for the benefit of the residents … then my recommendation would be that we go forward.”

Officially launched in the summer of 2024, Canton Electricity Choice enabled the town to draw on its collective buying power to give customers more choice and control over the electricity they buy. The initial contract locked in three different rate tiers with varying percentages of renewable energy, and all three tiers proved to be cheaper than Eversource basic. (Learn more about the program at masspowerchoice.com/canton.)

Birmingham said that Canton has a “fairly tight” window to secure a new agreement, with bids from vendors due yesterday and the town facing a final deadline of March 15 to accept one of the offers. Constellation is one of the qualified bidders but there are also three others, and Birmingham said they intend to go with the offer that’s best for Canton based on a pre-determined set of criteria that factors in rates as well as the length of the contract and the percentage of energy that comes from renewable sources.

Gromer said they are fairly confident that they will be able to beat Eversource’s rates, although he cautioned that the new prices are “very likely” to be higher than they were two years ago based on the direction of the overall electricity market. He noted that the renewable energy market has also changed considerably over the past two years, and as a result, he said it may not be worth chasing the tiered pricing model for the time being. “Because of actions by both the federal government and the state government, there really isn’t enough renewable energy now even to meet the state minimums, and we’re likely to be in that situation for the next few years,” he said. “So one thing to consider is whether to just go with the basic option for now at the lowest cost and reconsider adding more renewables in the future.”

Doody said they also have the option of implementing a small fee, which they can use to possibly hire a town energy manager or pursue other renewable energy projects in the future. He said it is a very modest amount — amounting to roughly 65 cents per resident on their electric bills — and board members voiced their support for the plan, assuming officials are able to secure a favorable contract as hoped.

In other news from Tuesday’s meeting:

* New Police Chief Michael Daniels, in his first formal appearance before the board since his swearing-in ceremony, announced two commendations …

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Posted by Jay Turner on Mar 5 2026. Filed under Top Stories. Both comments and pings are currently closed.