The Londonderry Utilities met on May 7 to discuss their next move regarding the Community Power Aggregation Project following a between Utilities Chair, Lynn Wiles, and providers Colonial Power and Freedom Energy. Wiles also met with the Town Council towards the end of April to get their input on the Aggregation project.
“I think the presentation went well, I think everybody’s on board with what we’re working on accomplishing,” he said.
The current plan will be to hold a public hearing on the Aggregation plan at the May 20 Town Council meeting. Due to legal requirements, there will also be a second public hearing at an undetermined date, possibly in June.
“Is there a target date for implementation, or not?” asked Utilities member, Paul Ramsey.
Ramsey was informed there is no fixed date for when the plan is set to begin, as town officials hope to wait for lower electricity rates before putting aggregation in effect.
“We’re not going to roll this out if it’s going to cost people money,” said Wiles. “We’re not doing this for the sake of doing it.”
Member, Jeff McGraw, promised to post public hearing dates and locations on the Committee’s Facebook page.
The Chair talked with Town Manager, Mike Malaguti, about possibly applying for block grants to support future projects. Nothing concrete had yet been planned as members worked to identify what state and federal utility grants might be worth the effort.
“We’re going to be working through the Finance Department,” explained Wiles. “There’s two consultant groups that we work with who will fill things out to do the actual grant applications.”
One company is Littleberry Press, another is Weston & Sampson. Both provide grant application writers to Londonderry on retainer.
“It’s important for us to understand what grants the town has put in for,” said member, Mike Speltz. “I think it’s important that we kind of know what the town has put in for, and how successfully they have been, because I think in going to the drinking water trust fund, we find that they have put in for grants that they’ve been denied. That’s not a good thing.”
He emphasized the proposed expansion of Londonderry’s municipal water system over the next 20 years as being an important target for future grants. He also wanted to look into grants designed to help the town protect its existing water groundwater sources.
“It might be useful for us to understand a little better how the town applies for grants, what the process is for the town applying for grants. Is there someone in the town administration that combs and looks for different grants that are available?” asked member, Anne Fenn.
The Chair informed her there was nobody on the town payroll to specifically look for grants, that job is typically left to different town committees, boards, and departments. The Utilities Committee moved to request more information on grants.
The next meeting of the Utilities Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Moose Hill Conference Room of Town Hall.