Conway’s Municipal Aggregation

What is municipal aggregation? It's a process where municipalities can aggregate the electrical load of customers within their borders to procure competitive supply of electricity. The state has a very good site explaining the process.

Bob Armstrong, who was instrumental in helping to form our aggregation, has a good explanation which was published in the December '22 edition of the Conway Currents newsletter.

Conway Electric Rates

by Bob Armstrong

Every day our mail, email, and newspapers are filled with warnings about the rise in energy prices this coming winter caused by the war in Ukraine and the resulting worldwide shortages in natural gas. Scary. Our electric utility, Eversource, has recently published the rate increase they believe they need in order to purchase power on behalf of their customers. In western Mass that’s a 40% increase, from 15.35 to 21.9 cents/kWh. Oil and gas for home heating will see a similar rise. Fortunately, Conway created a municipal electricity aggregation with other Franklin County towns, allowing it to go out to bid for future power contracts. Almost two years ago we signed a three-year contract for power at about 9.3 cents/kWh, and we still have more than a year on that contract. Until January 2024 our price for electric supply will remain at about 9.3 cents. That means a typical Conway resident will save more than $460 over the next six months.

We surveyed the town for their preferences for the power we purchase. Almost unanimously, our residents were willing to pay a bit extra for power if it contained more renewable energy than the law requires (what Eversource supplies). For about a penny more than the 9.3 basic price, we can purchase 25% additional renewable energy, and for a few pennies more we can purchase power that is 100% renewable. Note that this is still less than Eversource charges for “no extra green” today. About 90% of Conway residents are members of the aggregation, and almost all of them purchase our “25% extra” product. Conway is saving money while reducing the carbon impact on our atmosphere.

You can verify that you are a member of our aggregation by looking at your electric bill where it says “Your electric supplier is.” Below that, it should say “DYNEGY - CONWAY AGG.” If not, you may be purchasing your power from a private competitive supplier or from Eversource. You can switch to our aggregation by calling our supplier, DYNEGY, at 866-220-5696, or go to our broker’s (Colonial) webpage. If you have a contract with a private supplier, you should verify that they will not charge you a penalty for leaving them.