Town hears electricity aggregation update; default price to drop to 10¢/kWh in May

South Kingstown residents enrolled in the town’s Community Electricity Aggregation Program will see the default residential supply price fall to about 10 cents per kilowatt-hour for the coming contract period, Good Energy representatives told the Town Council on April 14.

Mark Russo, the town staff liaison to the aggregation program, introduced Rafita Ramon of Good Energy, who said the program launched in May 2023 and has produced nearly $850,000 in participant savings to date — about $733,000 for residential accounts and roughly $100,000 for commercial and industrial accounts — with an average savings of about $78 per residential account. Ramon said the program’s default product includes voluntary renewable energy purchases equivalent to 50% renewable content and that the default residential price will move from roughly 16¢/kWh to about 10¢/kWh for South Kingstown customers when the town’s later meter reads pick up the change in mid-to-late May.

“The program offers multiple product options for customers,” Ramon said, and “provides competitive pricing that has historically been below the utility rate, although future savings are not guaranteed.” Good Energy also reported annual voluntary purchases totaling about 4,000 megawatt-hours tied to renewable energy credits, which the company said corresponds to an estimated reduction of roughly 2.9 million pounds of CO2 annually.

Council members asked about contract length (Good Energy and the town have a five-year supplier agreement; the council is roughly three years into that contract) and about winter price volatility after recently high homeowner bills. Ramon and Russo said retail supply is only one component of a household bill; transmission and delivery charges set by Rhode Island Energy and approved by the state Public Utilities Commission account for a substantial portion of recent bill increases. Russo noted the town’s summer supply rate is about 3% lower than last year’s summer rate.

Good Energy reported there are roughly 8,954 accounts in the standard product, 727 in the basic product and about 68 accounts across green-enhanced products; roughly 90% of South Kingstown accounts remain enrolled in the program. The company said expansion of the buying group (other New England communities joining the program) can increase purchasing leverage but that market conditions and fuel prices remain primary drivers of future supply costs.

The council did not take formal action on the presentation; councilors asked staff to continue public outreach and to monitor market conditions ahead of the winter season.