No significant issues were reported with the Londonderry Community Power Program at the May 5 meeting of the Londonderry Utilities Committee. The program, launched earlier this spring, continues to operate smoothly with strong resident participation.
“I presented a quick update to the Town Council last month about where we’re at with the program, and I sent out the slide,” said Alternate Lynn Wiles. He noted that he had not received any public feedback since the program went live. “We have about a 92% participation rate, which is what they see with other towns. I think we’re on our way.”
Administrative Services Director Kirsten Hildonen said she had received a few calls from residents, but most were technical questions about switching suppliers. “I’ve had a couple people call and say they came off of their old energy company and wanted to make sure they knew how to get on the new one,” she said. “Honestly, it seems to be running itself at this juncture.”
Most residents were automatically enrolled in Londonderry’s Community Power arrangement unless they opted out.
“The next big thing will be when Eversource sets their next rates in August,” Wiles added. “Our contract is good through the end of October. That gives us a little bit of time to understand what the market rates are for our contract, and who knows where we’re going to go with the way the world is. It will give us an opportunity to see if it makes sense to do something longer term.”
Wiles and Committee member Paul Ramsey also announced plans to tour the Amoskeag hydro facility after receiving an invitation from Freedom Energy, the town’s aggregation partner.
“I’m in the middle of other power contracts with brokers, so I’m going to see if they see the world the same way that’s happening over here as well,” Ramsey said. “I’ll get their perspective on what’s happening overseas and all that type of stuff for the perspective going forward.”
Committee members agreed that understanding future energy prices, six months to a year out, will be essential in determining the next steps for Londonderry’s aggregation contract. “It’s all more information to see, validate, and invalidate what we’re hearing from our partners,” Ramsey said.
Alternate Mike Speltz asked whether Eversource, Freedom Energy, or state officials had expressed interest in new forms of power generation. “Is there any discussion of small scale nuclear?” he asked, referencing recent conversations in Concord.
“Kelly Ayotte talked about small scale nuclear in her State of the State speech this year,” Wiles said. “I sent a note up to DES saying, ‘What are you guys looking at?’ DES came back and said, ‘We’re not involved, Kelly’s staff is doing that.’” He added that state officials did not appear to be “anywhere near” developing anything beyond early stage discussions. “As far as I know, as of today, there’s very little to talk about – or ‘all talk and no action’ is a better way to say it.”
Governor Ayotte’s Executive Order 202601 directs the New Hampshire Department of Energy to develop a “nuclear road-map” for the state by the end of March.