Barrington Community Power Warrant Article Passes, What's Next for Barrington Residents?

In a significant move towards providing lower cost power and more electricity options to Barrington, the Barrington Community Power Warrant Article received overwhelming support from the community during the Town Meeting Elections held on March 12, 2024, with 68.5% of voters in favor of adopting Community Power and the Electric Aggregation Plan.

This program is set to automatically enroll most customer accounts currently using Eversource as their default energy provider, excluding some exceptions such as net-metered customers and accounts using third-party electricity suppliers. These customers can opt-in to the program if they choose. 

Eversource will continue to handle all maintenance and power distribution services, ensuring a seamless transition for the community.

Enrollment into the program is scheduled for the month of June, with Barrington Community Power beginning to supply electricity at the start of the new billing cycle for each customer. This will be reflected in customer electric bills from July onwards. 

Barrington Community Power will roll out with a default residential/light commercial electric rate of 8.1 ¢/kWh, which is competitively priced below Eversource's rate of 8.285 ¢/kWh. This rate adheres to the minimum energy mix of 24.3% as required by the NH Renewable Portfolio Standard. However, customers have the flexibility to choose from options with a higher renewable energy mix, including 33% at 8.4 ¢/kWh, 50% at 9.4 ¢/kWh, or 100% at 12.4 ¢/kWh, for those who wish to further support renewable energy sources. These rates will be reviewed and updated in August and January of each year at the same time as adjustments in Eversource rates. Customers will be notified at least 30 days in advance of each rate change.

To engage and inform the community, a Public Information Session will be held on May 8th at 6:30pm at the Barrington Town Hall, organized by Barrington Community Power and the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire. This session aims to provide insights into the program and its benefits as well as to answer any questions the public may have. 

Letters providing notification and additional information about the program, including how to prevent automatic enrollment (opt-out) or change electricity supply options, are being sent out as of April 26th. Customers eligible for automatic enrollment don’t need to take any action to be enrolled at the default rate. Those wishing to opt-out, or change their rate may do so at any time. For additional information please see the Barrington Community Power website: www.communitypowernh.gov/barrington or call 1-866-603-7697 (POWR). 

The Barrington Energy Committte and Barrington Community Power are pleased to offer this program to Barrington’s electric customers. We hope anyone with questions will attend the Public Information Session.