Your Electricity, Your Electric Company, and Community Choice Energy (CCE)

By Tom Macdonald

As we become more aware and insistent on renewable sources of electricity, a flood of energy companies are trying to get our business by advertising their green energy credentials. As Attorney General Maura Healy has noted, many of these companies are motivated by ill-gained profit, rather than environmental justice. Their promises of renewable sources of electricity in their contractual agreements often translate to increased cost over the period of the contract.

Late last year, Boston approved the development of Community Choice Energy (CCE), a municipal aggregation plan for supplying and delivering electricity to Boston residents. The original date for implementing CCE was January 2020, but this has been delayed by at least six months by the state Department of Public Utilities’ review and approval process.

If you’re inclined to participate in CCE, make sure to turn down any renewable energy offers that lock you into a contract past sometime next summer when CCE is expected to be implemented.
(Among offers you may receive is one from a company called “CleanChoice Energy” -- though it has the acronym CCE, it’s not the same as Community Choice Energy.)

When Community Choice Energy kicks in it will be essentially unnoticeable: your monthly bill will continue to come from Eversource with little or no change in cost (all residents will have the choice to opt out of CCE participation if they wish). What will change is the City will become the purchaser of electricity for the residents of Boston. With the power of bulk purchasing, the City will gain leverage in negotiating cost and supply with Eversource, the utility for the City’s electricity distribution.

The goal of Community Choice Energy is to increase the percentage of renewable energy distributed by Eversource to Boston residents. By law, Eversource is required to increase its renewable energy supply by 1% per year (our current green energy supply is around 13%). The CCE plan under development will increase the percentage as much as possible without raising household cost for electricity—an estimated 5 or 6% rather than the legally required 1%. By banding together under the umbrella of CCE, all residents of Boston who participate, including renters, will contribute to a decreasing dependence on fossil fuels.

Join the action to make CCE a reality! Read more about CCE on the Boston Climate Action Network (BCAN) website. Here’s their latest blog post on the subject: Activists, Officials Ask for Swift Approval of CCE

In the meantime, if you’re shopping for an energy source that will give you a larger percentage of renewable energy than the CCE increase, the Green Energy Consumers Alliance is a great place to look.