Salisbury residents can rejoin power plan

The town previously said that residents who opted out would not have the opportunity to rejoin its program. The town originally intended to allow them to enroll again and was informed by its consultant, Colonial Power Group, that they could not due to unique circumstances.

Town Manager Neil Harrington explained that those circumstances are no longer an issue.

“There has been a change in the global marketplace with regards to energy pricing, and so that has allowed our supplier, which is First Point Power, to offer us a lower rate for people who opted out of the program,” Harrington said.

He said a small number of town residents have opted out.

“It was less than 10 percent, but it was not an insignificant number,” Harrington said.

A statement on the town website explained that residents may join or rejoin the town’s program at a market rate of 19.5 cents per kilowatt hour, effective immediately. The statement said customers should contact Colonial Power by calling 508-485-5858 or logging onto the company’s website at www.colonialpowergroup.com.

Selectman Michael Colburn praised Harrington for his work getting Salisbury into the power aggregation plan and for pushing to give residents who opted out the option to rejoin.

“That’s all on from Neil’s leadership, Neil having the foresight and trying to stay ahead of it,” Colburn said. “So he’s done really good for the town on that.”

In May, Harrington signed a three-year renewal agreement with First Point Power through January 2025 to obtain electricity for Salisbury at a fixed rate of 11.134 cents per kilowatt hour for all residential and business customers of National Grid.

The town’s electricity aggregation program came became a point of discussion after National Grid announced it was significantly increasing electricity rates this winter, including its basic service rate for Nov. 1 through April 30.

The current rates are 33.891 cents per kilowatt hour for residential service and 32.287 cents per kilowatt hour for commercial customers, a dramatic increase from the previous 14.80 cents per kilowatt hour.

The statement from the town noted that National Grid’s rate will change May 1 and that customers may want to check back in April to compare the 19.5 cents rate to National Grid’s new rate to determine their best option for electricity.