State Approves Valley Green Energy

Source: amherstma.gov

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities’ (DPU) has approved the Valley Green Energy Community Choice Aggregation application.

Valley Green Energy is an electricity aggregation, which is a program to purchase electricity as a group. The expectation is that communities will be able use their collective buying power to purchase electricity more competitively and increase the amount of renewable energy in the electricity supply.  Through the program, residents and businesses will have new choices and greater control over the cost and environmental impact of the electricity they use. Though Valley Green Energy will not be able to guarantee savings, the communities are committed to working toward competitive and stable prices.

Amherst, as lead community, worked with the City of Northampton and Town of Pelham to submit the application. The application was submitted on behalf of the participating communities by the consultant for the three communities, Mass Power Choice (MPC) on October 13, 2023.

“We are grateful to Mass Power Choice for their guidance and expertise in ensuring all three communities provided the materials, resources and followed the requisite processes to make our application a success,” said Amherst Town Manager Paul Bockelman.

As lead community, Amherst worked closely with MPC during the application process and facilitated the convening of a community information session from the three communities prior to its submission.  “In all the years we have held these public sessions, we have never had such robust community attendance or been asked such challenging questions,” said Paul Gromer of Mass Power Choice.

“It is exciting to finally be moving this effort forward,” said Stephanie Ciccarello, Amherst’s Director of Sustainability.  “The three communities, along with resident advocates, have worked diligently over the last several years to bring greater electricity supply options to our communities.”

The program is expected to launch this fall. Community members who currently receive basic service from their utility provider will be automatically opted in. A robust community outreach and education campaign to further inform residents about the program’s membership options will be executed over the next several months prior to its implementation.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Ciccarello at ciccarellos@amherstma.gov or go to the official Valley Green Energy Website: Valley Green Energy – MassPowerChoice.com.