6 thoughts on “UPDATED: Watertown Electrical Customers Moving to New Green Energy Program in Fall

  1. Why were the informational meetings planned after we got the letter from Tulsa, Oklahoma?
    Also , why do we have to opt out to maintain our rights?
    Another question, who planned this?

  2. Your electricity still comes from the same sources. Your payments will get earmarked for “greener” more expensive production.

  3. I have the same concerns as Alice.
    Also – it looks like we will be paying more if we don’t take action to Opt out.
    I’m sure it’s done with the best intentions but It’s extremely inappropriate, in a free choice society to do something like make a choice for us and then say that if you don’t like it then you have to make an effort to change it. Further, it no doubt is an expense to opt out which somebody has to pay for and we all know who ends up paying for things.
    I’m all for renewable energy but I don’t know that it’s yet a mature enough industry to be cost effective to the average rate paying citizen. I am not convinced this is a smart idea at this time. I also believe someone is making some big money on this change and it’s not the rate payers.

    • The basic plan that residents will be placed into automatically will actually be a bit cheaper than the Eversource rates over the next year. The rates will remain the same over the duration of the Town’s contract. Here are the rates, provided by the Town’s Energy Manager, Ed Lewis.

      WEC Rates

      Default – 11.494 cents/kWh

      100% green – 12.718 cents/kWh

      Basic – 10.654 cents/kWh

      Eversource – 10.836 thru December 2019, changes in January (unknown, but for reference the 2019 winter rate was 13.588 cents/kWh.

  4. Charlie, I think you are wrong about the plan that residences get put into unless they opt out. From looking and reading the information that I got, it looks like all will be put in the Standard Offering which is actually higher than what we are paying now.

    Standard Offering is 11.49 while the current rate we are paying with Eversource is 10.83

    The plan that looks the best to me is the Basic Option Plan that is 10.65, which is less than both but less renewable energy.

    I do agree with the others that say the town has no right in deciding this for us then putting the burden on us to “Opt Out” by calling. Many will ignore the pamphlet thinking they don’t want to sign up and when they do that they will actually be signing up by default.

    • The summer Eversource rates are lower, but they tend to be a few cents higher in the winter. Overall the rate should be a bit lower. This is coming from Watertown’s Energy Manager who helped put together the program.

      Here is the info they provided. Note that the winter rates are not out yet.
      Eversource – 10.836 thru December 2019, changes in January (unknown, but for reference the 2019 winter rate was 13.588 cents/kWh.

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