July 1, 2015
This past winter, Haverhill residents were hit hard with staggering increases in their electric bills. Basic service electric rates have gone up by an unbelievable 37%. Wednesday, Mayor James J. Fiorentini announced that he was able to negotiate with other electricity suppliers for a more favorable utility rate, saving the municipality and city school department a substantial amount of money on electricity.
Fiorentini says he is in the final step for the Electric Aggregation Plan. The city council has approved it, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has approved it, and now the city has filed an electric aggregation program with the Department of Public Utilities (DPU file #15-61) and expects to hear from them in the coming months.
“I want to give residents an opportunity to save money on electricity, the Haverhill Community Choice Power Supply Program will potentially achieve this goal.
“I want to share the savings with residents and businesses and this plan has the ability to help save money and provide rate stability for everyone.”
The mayor says his request would ultimately give residents and businesses the opportunity to purchase electricity from the lowest supplier. Residents could also opt out of the program, at no cost, if they did not want to participate. If the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) approves Haverhill’s request, Fiorentini says the city would then issue a request for proposal with suppliers to service residents and businesses.
After that process, Fiorentini says that the city would choose the lowest price for supply rates and that rate would be available to residents. “National Grid will continue to be the utility and continue to bill residents, but the electric aggregation will give residents a choice on the supply portion of their bills, the delivery of the electricity will still be controlled by National Grid.”