The program is an electricity aggregation, a form of group purchasing in which the Town uses the bulk buying power of the entire community to secure the price that is used to calculate the Supply Services portion of your National Grid electric bill.
Under the program, National Grid will continue to deliver your electricity, but National Grid will no longer be your electricity supplier. Instead Southborough will choose its own electricity supplier.
Southborough has a contract with First Power Power, which will run until December 2024.
The program is offered as a service to the community by the Town. The Town receives no financial compensation from the program.
No. If you receive a personal call or visit about your electricity, that person does NOT represent National Grid or the Town of Southborough. Neither National Grid nor the Town is knocking on doors or making individual sales phone calls.
If you receive call or a visit from someone who wants to discuss your electricity, here are three things to keep in mind:
If you feel a salesperson has fraudulently identified themself as working for National Grid or the Town of Southborough, please report it to the Department of Public Utilities Consumer Division 617-737-2836, or DPUConsumer.Complaints@state.ma.us.
The program offers several potential benefits:
Long-term price stability: The Southborough Community Power Choice price is fixed until December 2024. This makes it different from National Grid’s Basic Service prices, which change seasonally, every 6 months for residential and commercial customers and every 3 months for industrial customers.
Choice: The program gives you two alternatives to National Grid’s Basic Service:
Consumer protections: All program terms are public, there are no hidden fees, and you may leave any time with no penalty or fee.
Potential savings: The program price has the potential to be lower than National Grid’s Basic Service price. However, National Grid’s Basic Service prices change seasonally, and future prices are not known. As a result, the program cannot guarantee savings when compared to National Grid’s Basic Service price.
Southborough has signed a contract with First Point Power which is in effect until December 2024 meter reads.
At the end of the contract, the Town will go out to bid. If the Town signs a contract with a new electricity supplier, the new prices will be announced, and all active accounts in the program will be automatically enrolled into the new contract.
If the Town chooses not to sign a contract with a new electricity supplier, that decision will be announced and all active accounts in the program will be returned to National Grid’s basic service pricing.
Call National Grid if your power goes out, as always.
National Grid will continue to read meters, maintain distribution and transmission lines, and provide customer service.
National Grid’s customer service number is 1-800-465-1212.
You will see two changes as a result of participating in the program:
See an example National Grid bill.
Otherwise, everything else will remain the same. You will continue to receive your bill from National Grid, you will continue to pay National Grid, and you will continue to call National Grid when your power goes out.
If you are eligible for any discounts from National Grid, those will be unaffected by your participation in this program.
Yes. Your low-income discount will not be impacted by your participation in Southborough Community Power Choice.
No. Municipal electricity aggregation has been building momentum across Massachusetts. More than half of the communities in Massachusetts have active or pending municipal electricity aggregation program’s like Southborough’s.
Yes. You will continue to receive solar credits and/or solar incentive payments, and participating in Southborough Community Power Choice will not change how they are calculated.
Tax-exempt accounts that wish to maintain their tax-exempt status in Southborough Community Power Choice must submit tax-exemption documentation to the program’s electricity supplier.
This means that tax-exemption documentation must be submitted each time the program’s electricity supplier changes.
The program’s electricity supplier is required by the State of Massachusetts to have valid tax-exemption documentation on hand for all tax-exempt accounts.
You may have submitted tax-exemption documentation to Eversource already, but Eversource does not share this documentation with the program’s electricity supplier. It is the customer’s responsibility to submit this documentation.
Information about how to submit this documentation is available on the tax-exempt account page.
Electricity service has two parts, delivery and supply. Electricity delivery is the process of bringing electricity to you along wires. Electricity supply is the electricity itself. National Grid is responsible for electricity delivery in Southborough. In addition, National Grid typically chooses the electricity supplier and passes that cost along to customers. This is called National Grid’s Basic Service.
An electricity supplier is NOT your utility. An electricity 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.
If you or your municipal government signs a contract with an electricity supplier, you are still a National Grid customer, and National Grid will continue to deliver your electricity.
However, when National Grid puts together your electricity bill, they will use your electricity supplier’s price to calculate the supply services charges on your bill instead of their own Basic Service price.
No. If you sign a contract with an electricity supplier immediately after opening your electricity account, you will not automatically be enrolled in the program.
If you would like to participate in the Southborough Community Power Choice program, we recommend that you first check the terms of your existing electricity supply contract. Many include minimum enrollment periods and early termination fees.
When you are ready to enroll, you can enroll online.
Important: If you signed a contract with an electricity supplier and also you received a notification letter in the mail stating that your account will be automatically enrolled in Southborough Community Power Choice,you may have signed your contract after the mailing list was created. In that case, you must opt out of the program to remain in your electricity supply contract. Failure to opt out will likely mean enrollment in Southborough Community Power Choice and could trigger early termination fees from your existing supplier.
First Point Power is the electricity supplier for Southborough Community Power Choice through December 2024.
The program offers two alternatives to National Grid Basic Service. Your price will be determined by which program option you enroll in:
Power Choice Standard is 10.999 ¢/kWh for all customers/rate classes. This is the default option. All new program participants will be automatically enrolled in Power Choice Standard. Like National Grid’s Basic Service, Power Choice Standard meets minimum state requirements for integrating renewable energy.
Power Choice Green is 13.724 ¢/kWh for all customers/rate classes. This choice provides 100% renewable energy, all from new renewable energy projects in the New England region (MA Class I RECs). You may select Power Choice Green online or by contacting customer support.
Possibly. Southborough Community Power Choice does offer the potential for small savings compared with National Grid’s Basic Service price, however, savings cannot be guaranteed.
This is because National Grid’s fixed Basic Service prices change every 6 months for residential and commercial customers and every 3 months for industrial customers, and their future prices are not known.
Please note that any potential savings will impact only the supply services portion of your National Grid bill. National Grid’s delivery charges will not be impacted.
No. The program will be integrated into your existing National Grid bill. National Grid will continue to bill you for your electricity, and this is the only electricity bill you will receive as a participant in Southborough Community Power Choice.
No. You will continue to receive those benefits as a participant in Southborough Community Power Choice.
The program price is fixed for the length of Southborough’s contract with their current electricity supplier. In contrast, National Grid’s prices change every six months or less, depending on what kind of customer you are. As a result, it is very likely that for some months, the program price will be higher than the National Grid price.
The program goal is to beat the average of National Grid’s changing prices over the duration of the electricity supply contract, but savings can never be guaranteed.
You are free to opt out of the program for no penalty or fee. If you choose to opt out, you will be returned to National Grid’s Basic Service.
If you opt out and wish to return to the program, you are not guaranteed the program price and may be charged a market price for the duration of the current contract instead.
All metered electricity customers within the geographic boundaries of Southborough are eligible to join the program. New electricity customers in Southborough will be automatically enrolled a few months after opening their account.
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.
New electricity accounts in Southborough on National Grid’s Basic Service will be automatically enrolled in the program within a few months of opening. If your account is eligible for automatic enrollment, you will receive a letter in the mail from the Town explaining the program and your right to opt out before enrollment occurs.
If you will not be automatically enrolled and wish to enroll, please contact customer support at 1-833-272-9591 or using the online form.
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 have signed an electricity supply contract with another supplier, you are welcome to join the program.
To enroll, you may enroll online or contact customer support at 1-833-272-9591 and ask to join.
However, we recommend that you first carefully check the terms and conditions of your current electricity supplier agreement. Your ability to terminate your agreement with your supplier may be restricted, and you may be charged 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.
You may choose either option by completing the online form or by contacting customer support.
No. The automatic enrollment model is in accordance with state law, but participation is not required.
You may opt out of the program at any time with no penalty or fee. If you receive a letter in the mail about automatic enrollment, you may also opt out before being automatically enrolled.
You may opt out online or by contacting 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. If you are eligible for budget billing or for any discounts from National Grid, those will unaffected by your participation in the program.
No. National Grid’s quality of service to you will be unaffected by your participation in the program. The reason is because National Grid does not profit from the supplier services part of your electric bill. They pass the electricity supply charges along to you with no markup. They make their profit from the distribution charges. As a result, they are indifferent to whether they choose your supplier or you choose your supplier.
No. If you have added your name to National Grid’s Do Not Call list, your account will not receive any mailings about the program, and your account will not be automatically enrolled. But you may participate if you wish. To participate, you will need to contact the electricity supplier that the Town selects and ask to be enrolled.
No. Southborough Community Power Choice does not replace National Grid. National Grid will still be your electricity utility, and your primary relationship for electricity will continue to be with National Grid:
The minimum amount increases every year. For 2024, Massachusetts state law requires that renewable electricity must be purchased from new renewable energy projects in the New England region to match 24% of your electricity use.
In addition, state law requires the purchase of a minimum amount of renewable energy from older renewable energy projects in New England, as well as from some other energy sources that are considered highly efficient but not renewable.
For more information, visit the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources page on compliance information for the Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Power Choice Green from Southborough Community Power Choice is different from most other renewable electricity offers.
With Southborough Community Power Choice Green, you will buy renewable electricity to match 100% of your electricity use, and it will all be from new renewable energy projects in the New England region (MA Class I RECs).
By choosing Power Choice Green and buying renewable electricity to match all of your electricity use, you will make an important contribution to:
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