Cambridge Community Electricity (CCE) is a Community Choice, or municipal aggregation program. Your electric bill has two major parts: distribution and supply. In a traditional model, Eversource delivers your electricity over the power lines and also acts as your supplier (they buy electricity for you). Through aggregation programs, which are approved by the state, the City uses the bulk buying power of the entire community to negotiate a price for the Supplier Services on behalf of Cambridge residents and businesses.

Eversource will continue to deliver your electricity, but Eversource will no longer be your electricity supplier. Cambridge currently has a contract with Direct Energy to supply electricity from January 2024 through January 2026.

More than 150 other communities in Massachusetts have active aggregations.

If you receive a personal call or visit about your electricity, that person does not represent the City of Cambridge or the Cambridge Community Electricity Program. The City is not knocking on doors or making individual sales phone calls. The City sends a single letter to residents and businesses eligible for automatic enrollment with detailed program information. That letter includes the City seal in the header and City Manager Yi-An Huang’s name at the end.

If you receive a call or a visit from someone who wants to discuss your electricity, here are three things to keep in mind:

• The person you are speaking with is not associated with the City of Cambridge or the Cambridge Community Electricity Program.
• You should treat your Eversource account number like you treat your credit card information. Do not give it out unless you want to purchase your electricity from someone else.
• You do have the right to select an electricity supplier of your choice. If you choose to explore this option, please check the terms of the agreement carefully. Things to check for include: minimum bill amounts, contract length requirements, early termination fees, low introductory rates that change after the introductory period ends, and rates that vary.

If you have further questions regarding door-to-door solicitations, please contact the Cambridge Consumers Council at 617-349-6152. If you feel a salesperson has fraudulently identified themself as working for Eversource or the City, please report it to the Department of Public Utilities Consumer Division 617-737-2836, or DPUConsumer.Complaints@mass.gov.

The goal of the program is to provide more new renewable energy to Cambridge residents and businesses at a price that is lower than or equal to the Eversource Basic Service supply rate.

The Cambridge Community Electricity Program has been in place since 2017. The City’s current electricity supply contract is with Direct Energy from January 2024 – January 2026. At that point, Cambridge can establish a new electricity supply contract or end the program.

• If Cambridge signs a new contract, all active program participants will be automatically enrolled in the new contract.
• If Cambridge chooses instead to end the program, all active program participants will be automatically returned to Eversource’s Basic Service.

In either case, the City will make an announcement, and the transition will be seamless for program participants.

Direct Energy is required to have tax-exemption documentation on file for every electricity account that participates in the Cambridge Community Electricity Program and has tax-exempt status. Without that documentation on file, Direct Energy may be required to charge tax on the account. They cannot obtain that documentation from Eversource. They must obtain it from each customer directly.

If your account has tax-exempt status, please submit your tax-exemption documentation to Direct Energy. Information about how to submit this documentation is available on the tax-exempt accounts page.

No, but Cambridge is working toward supplying its electricity from renewable energy as well. Over 5% of the municipal electricity supply was generated by solar panels on City buildings in 2020. The City is also pursuing additional options to source up to 100% of its electricity from renewable resources in the next few years.

Call Eversource if your power goes out, as always. Eversource will continue to deliver your electricity and maintain the poles and wires.

No. More than 150 communities in Massachusetts have active aggregations, and increasingly, Massachusetts communities are using aggregations to support renewable energy development in New England. Cambridge is the first community to use their aggregation to create a new solar project on behalf of its program participants.

Electricity service has two parts: supply and delivery. Supply refers to the electricity itself. Delivery is the process of bringing that electricity to you over the wires.

With Basic Service, your electric utility, Eversource, is your electricity supplier and also delivers the electricity to you.

With the Cambridge Community Electricity Program, Eversource will continue to deliver your electricity, but Cambridge chooses its own supplier.

A competitive supplier is NOT your utility. A competitive supplier is a company licensed by the Department of Public Utilities to purchase electricity and related services from the wholesale electricity markets for resale to retail customers. Typically, a residential customer who buys electricity from a competitive supplier will see the charge as a line item on their electric utility bill.

Learn more by downloading this brief, 2-slide presentation from the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell:

English (PDF)
Español (PDF)
Português (PDF)

From January 2024 until January 2026, the program’s electricity supplier is Direct Energy.

Your price will be determined by which of the three program options you are enrolled in. See current program options and prices.

No. Eversource’s Basic Service prices fluctuate. The program goal is to deliver savings when compared with the average of Eversource’s changing prices over the contract period. Please note that savings will impact only the supply portion of your Eversource electric bill. Eversource’s delivery charges will not be affected by this program.

The program will impact only the supply portion of your Eversource bill. The delivery portion of your Eversource bill will not be impacted by this program.

You will see two changes on your Eversource electric bill beginning with the month after your enrollment in the program:

• Your electricity supply price will change to the Cambridge Community Electricity Program price.
• You will see Direct Energy listed instead of Basic Service on the Supplier Services portion of your bill.

View an example Eversource bill to learn more about how the program will appear on your bill.

No. Eversource will continue to bill you for your electricity, and this is the only electric bill you will receive as a participant in this program.

The Cambridge program price is fixed until January 2026. Eversource’s Basic Service prices change seasonally. Future prices are not known. As a result, it is possible that for some months, Eversource’s prices will fall below the program prices. Savings cannot be guaranteed compared to Eversource’s Basic Service prices.

You are able to opt out of the Cambridge Community Electricity Program at any time without penalty.

No. If you are eligible for a low-income discount from Eversource, it will be unaffected by your participation in the program.

Yes. If you participate in the Cambridge Community Electricity Program, budget billing will no longer apply to the Supply portion of your Eversource bill.

No. There is no penalty or fee to opt out of the program, and you may opt out at any time. If you choose to opt out before being enrolled, you will remain an Eversource Basic Service customer. If you choose to opt out after being enrolled, you will be returned to Eversource’s Basic Service.

Massachusetts law requires that all municipal electricity aggregations operate under an automatic enrollment model. Cambridge did not have a choice with this aspect of the aggregation. All aggregations in Massachusetts must operate under an automatic enrollment model.

New Cambridge electricity accounts will be eligible for automatic enrollment in the program on a periodic basis. Before being automatically enrolled, you will receive a notice in the mail from the City with information about the program, including how to opt out if you do not wish to participate. You will have 30 days to opt out before being automatically enrolled. If you do not opt out, you will be enrolled with your first meter read at the conclusion of the 30-day period.

If you do not have a new electricity account and you would like to join the program, you may do so online or by contacting customer support.

Before you terminate an existing contract with an electricity supplier, we recommend that you check the terms of your contract. Many include minimum enrollment periods and early termination fees.

Important note: For any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

If you choose an electricity supplier shortly after opening your Eversource electricity account, you will not be eligible for automatic enrollment in the Cambridge Community Electricity Program. But you are invited to participate. If you would like to participate, please contact customer support with the City’s consultants at 1-844-379-9934.

Before calling, we recommend that you first check the terms of your existing electricity supply contract. Many include minimum enrollment periods and early termination fees.

Important note: For any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

No. If you have added your name to Eversource’s Do Not Call list, you will not receive any mailings about the program and your account will not be eligible for automatic enrollment. But you may participate if you wish. To participate, contact customer support.

Yes, however, for any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

Large commercial accounts may be eligible for higher market pricing instead of program pricing when they request initial enrollment in the program. If you are interested in submitting an enrollment request for your large commercial account, please contact customer support.

No. Eversource will still be your electric utility, and your primary relationship for electricity will remain with Eversource:

1. Your bill will continue to come from Eversource.
2. You will continue to send bill payments to Eversource.
3. You will continue to call Eversource if your power goes out.
4. If you are eligible for a low-income discount or fuel assistance, you will continue to receive those benefits.

No. Eversource’s quality of service will not be affected by your participation in the program. Eversource does not profit from the Supply charges on your electric bill. They make their profit from the Delivery charges. As a result, they have no preference whether they choose your supplier or Cambridge does.

An electric utility like Eversource is responsible primarily for delivering electricity to you, for maintaining the poles and wires, and for addressing power outages. Your utility charges you for these services on the Delivery charges portion of your electric bill.

An electricity supplier is a company that buys electricity for you from electricity generators or from electricity brokers. An electricity supplier can be a utility like Eversource, or it can be a third-party company. If your supplier is a third-party company, it does not replace Eversource as your electric utility.

• When your utility is also your electricity supplier (i.e., when you have Eversource’s Basic Service), your electric bill will indicate that is the case with the words “basic service.”
• You may also choose your own electricity supplier. If you do, the name of that company will appear on your electric bill as your electricity supplier, and the price you negotiated with them will be used to calculate the Supply charges on your bill.
• With the Cambridge Community Electricity Program, the City chooses an electricity supplier on your behalf. Cambridge has signed a contract with Direct Energy to supply electricity to the City. Direct Energy will appear on your electric bill as your electricity supplier, and Eversource will use a price the City has secured with them to calculate the Supply charges on your bill.

One of Cambridge’s primary goals is to encourage the development of new renewable energy projects within or near Cambridge. For that reason, the Cambridge Community Electricity Program used funds collected through the program to build a new renewable energy project in Cambridge. That project is a solar project because solar is the best local option for renewable energy projects due to our dense urban environment, which has limited space for wind turbines, hydro power, or other renewable energy sources. The new solar project is up and running, and Cambridge will assign the renewable energy certificates (RECs) that it produces to all program participants to make the electricity used by all program participants more renewable.

Meeting 100% of the electricity demand with either local SRECs or Class I RECs would significantly increase the cost of electricity. In order to offer 100% renewable energy at a similar price to Eversource’s Basic Service prices, communities would have to purchase inexpensive RECs from out-of-region projects such as Texas wind farms. Because these projects have been operating for a long time and would have been built regardless of whether the RECs were sold, they don’t meet the standard that Cambridge is pursuing. Cambridge’s program focuses on creating more new local renewable energy projects.

The Cambridge Community Electricity Program offers three options for Cambridge electricity customers: Standard Green, 100% Green Plus, and Economy Green.

If you choose 100% Green Plus, all of your electricity supply will come from new local and regional renewable energy projects using Class I RECs (Massachusetts 100% Class I RECs), and you will also receive additional solar electricity from the new Cambridge solar project. This option is opt­-in. You may choose 100% Green Plus online or by calling customer support at 1-844-379-9934.

The minimum amount of renewable energy required by the state increases every year. For 2024, the state requires that a minimum of 62% of your electricity comes from a mix of renewable and clean energy sources. As part of that, 24% of your electricity comes from new renewable energy projects in the New England region (MA Class I RECs). All electricity sold in the state must include these minimum amounts.

As a participant in the Cambridge Community Electricity Program, you receive the state minimum, and you also receive additional renewable electricity over and above that minimum from the new solar project. If you are enrolled in the Standard Green option or 100% Green Plus option, you will receive more renewable electricity than the state-required minimum, including electricity from the new solar project.

Because we cannot direct electrons from a renewable energy project on one part of the grid to a customer on another, renewable energy certificates, or RECs, are used to track the generation and sale of renewable energy.

RECs are an accounting system. Each REC represents proof that 1 megawatt-hour of electricity was generated by a renewable energy resource. When you purchase RECs in addition to purchasing your electricity, it allows you to say that a portion, or all, of your electricity comes from the renewable energy projects that generated the electricity associated with each REC. The RECs that you purchase are then retired so no one else can claim to use the same renewable energy.

The money used to purchase the RECs goes to support the renewable energy projects that generated them.

For more information about RECs, visit this page.

If you have signed up for green electricity through the Green Energy Consumer’s Alliance (formerly Mass Energy) or Mother’s Out Front, you can participate in the Cambridge Community Electricity Program at the same time. Thanks to the Cambridge Community Electricity Program, you were able to directly support the development of a new solar project in Cambridge while continuing to support regional renewable energy through the Green Energy Consumer’s Alliance.

If you have signed up for a different electricity supplier, you can choose either to stick with that supplier by opting out of the Cambridge Community Electricity Program or switch to the Cambridge Community Electricity Program. You can see how much renewable energy you are receiving and where it comes from by looking at the energy disclosure label for your supply. For information about other suppliers, see http://www.mass.gov/eea/energy-utilities-clean-tech/electric-power/electric-market-info/choose-supplier.html. For help with this decision, contact the consultants hired by the City to answer questions about this program at 1-844-379-9934 or cambridge@masspowerchoice.com.

Yes. You will continue to receive solar credits and/or solar incentive payments, and participating in the Cambridge Community Electricity Program will not change how they are calculated.