RSA 53-E created the necessary legal framework for community power. The central conceit is to aggregate many small energy consumers under one umbrella, so they can act as a single customer when they contract for energy services (i.e., analogous to a “buying club”).
- A municipal aggregator can build its own portfolio of energy sources and offer several different combinations to consumers. Some products may emphasize renewable energy while other may emphasize affordability.
- A municipality may choose to generate its own power to feed into the grid for distribution to its aggregate members, but this is not a required part of a community power plan. Wilmot could conceivably buy power from another municipality that generates its own.
- The energy distributor (mostly the N.H. Energy Cooperative, in our case) remains the same and continues to bill the aggregator customers.
- It is not required that a resident to join a municipal aggregate. A plan can be either opt-in or opt-out. If it goes forward as the latter, then all residents must receive by mail an invitation to opt-out.
The committee meets monthly (usually the last week of the month) at the town offices as posted at the town website. Meeting begin 6:30 p.m. .
Community Power Plan Committee
| Lorraine Acosta |
| Douglas Bartlett |
| Bill Best |
| Bill Chaisson |
| Ann Davis |
| Marc Davis |
| Glynis Hart |
| Andrew Scutro (advisor) |
The Town of Wilmot is a member of the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH). As of January 2023, this nonprofit is still in the process of being set up. They are on schedule to begin purchasing power for the member towns in mid-April.
The phenomenon of a "municipal aggregator" has been around for a while. The EPA calls it "community choice aggregation."
Several other similar coalitions exist around the U.S. Some examples:
Cape Light Compact | southeastern Massachusetts
Sustainable Columbus | City of Columbus, Ohio
