As a step working towards Boston Mayor Walsh’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, Boston is set to launch the Community Choice Electricity program (CCE). All Boston residents will be automatically enrolled in the program in February 2021, unless they choose to opt-out. 

“Through the program, the city of Boston can pull the collective buying power of Boston’s residents and businesses to negotiate favorable electric contracts with electricity suppliers,” said Aidan Smith, CCE Outreach Coordinator on the Dec. 21 webinar to inform the audience about the program. “The city does this on behalf of the program’s customers so as to provide the most affordable and renewable electricity possible.” Since Dec. 14, the city has hosted webinars in a row in multiple languages to spread the program’s logistics to local communities. 

Here is Sampan’s rundown on how it works: In general, Eversource is Boston’s local utility service for residents to receive electricity. Eversource owns and maintains the poles and wires to distribute electricity within the city. It is only from the delivery of the electricity that Eversource gets its revenue, not from the actual supply. Electricity suppliers could be Eversource itself, through which customers are receiving ‘basic service.’ Customers can also sign a contract with a private third-party company to get electricity supply. 

The newly introduced program plays an intermediary role between the electricity supplier and its delivery. As an alternative option, CCE will select an electric supplier to provide electricity to customers, and Eversource basic service will no longer be the default option.

Eversource will continue to deliver electricity, maintain the grid, and provide customer service and billing. Participants of the program would only see the change on the electric supply portion of the bill. 

The city has selected Constellation NewEnergy, Inc. (“Constellation”) as the electricity supplier for the program and its customers for the time between February, 2021 and November, 2021. The program will not necessarily stick to the same electricity supplier after this period, according to its official website. 

Constellation will offer customers three options. Boston residents will be automatically enrolled in the CCE program and register for its Standard Product. Other than this default option, customers can either “opt down” to “Optional Basic,” or “opt up” to “Optional Green 100.” The three options differ on the cost and the percentage of renewable electricity. 

Over a period of time, CCE plans to bring in more renewable sources of energy and may be cheaper. But it is not guaranteed that CCE will always be cheaper than Eversource’s basic service. “The reason for this is that Eversource’s rates will change on July 1st, 2021. And we don’t know what their new rates will be,” Smith said. 

Customers can join in, opt out or change the program product at any time without penalty, and there is no contract to sign, Smith stressed on the webinar. 

There are three ways to opt-out of the program — you can call Constellation’s phone number (833) 930-3161 or go to the website or reply to the card mailed to your home in December. You can also choose to opt in by calling or going through the website. 

“The transition will be entirely seamless. However, we don’t want the seamlessness of this transition to mask the importance of this program,” Smith said. “The impact of a whole city collectively making this small shift is enormous. It will provide the city with a key lever for addressing our collective economic, environmental, and climate change goals.” 

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