Municipal aggregation guidelines aim to streamline application process

Concluding a nearly year-long investigation, the Department of Public Utilities in July issued an order with final, uniform guidelines to approve future municipal aggregation plans.

With an aggregation program, a municipality purchases electricity in bulk from an investor-owned utility on behalf of customers in the community, thereby offering more competitive pricing, higher renewable energy content, and relative price stability.

Aggregation has become an important option for Massachusetts municipalities since 1997. There are currently 199 approved municipal aggregation plans, and the number continues to grow, thanks in large part to a recently cleared backlog of pending proposals that the DPU addressed this past summer.

The DPU’s guidelines come after a lengthy stakeholder engagement process, during which the MMA submitted a letter of comment in response to the DPU’s draft guidelines and model template. The initial draft threatened to remove some key flexibilities regarding launch dates and product offerings, two areas that have now been addressed differently in the final guidelines.

Among other issues, the guidelines cover the following:
• What a municipality must include in its municipal aggregation plan
• Details a municipality must provide on an ongoing basis about the operation of its municipal aggregation program
• Requirements that apply to electric companies related to facilitating the successful operation of municipal aggregation programs
• The DPU’s review of proposed plans, including a new 120-day deadline for the department to issue a decision on a municipality’s application

More information on municipal aggregation can be found on the DPU’s webpage on the topic.