Andover Community Power will be a program offered by the Town to provide residents and businesses more electricity supply options by pooling the electricity use of thousands of users in Andover. The program will offer a Town-vetted alternative to National Grid’s default supply and other third party electricity suppliers.
Current: Awaiting an Approval Order from DPU
In July 2021, Andover submitted its Plan for the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to review. Over two years later, we are still waiting.
Andover has fully cooperated with the DPU’s review, including participating in its public hearing in October 2021 and responding to the only set of Information Requests issued by DPU in July 2022. In October 2022, the Town Manager sent a letter requesting that DPU expedite its review process. Read the letter here.
Our program can only launch after DPU approval. Please see our Timeline for additional detail on DPU review of our Plan, docket 21-77.
Program Plan
You can read our Aggregation Plan here. The Plan describes how the program will work, available product options, and the outreach plan for program launch. The Plan is under review by the Department of Public Utilities. Read all of the approval steps here.
Andover Community Power Goals
Competitive, Stable Price
Using strategic purchasing, combined with the bulk buying power of thousands of households and businesses in the town, Andover Community Power looks to provide competitive, stable rates.
While the Program cannot guarantee savings to customers in the future, the Town of Andover is committed to working to provide stable and affordable electricity rates through the ACP program.
More Renewable Energy
Andover Community Power’s standard and optional products include more renewable energy than required by Massachusetts. This means that by participating in the program, you can use cleaner electricity and support the growth of renewable energy generation in our region.
Increased Choice &
Easy Participation
The program offers four different options for electricity supply so that everyone in Andover can find an option that fits their budget and climate goals.
Participants in Andover Community Power may leave the program at any time without penalty.
How to Participate
Andover Community Power does not replace National Grid as our electric utility: they continue to deliver electricity, repair outages and manage all billing. The program offers alternatives for the Supply portion of your bill. See the Understanding Your Bill section on the National Grid website to see the difference between Supply and Delivery sections.
The program is open to electricity customers in Andover – whether they be a resident, business, a renter or owner.
Prior to program launch, Andover will conduct extensive education and outreach to notify our community.
The program has voluntary participation with automatic enrollment.
- Voluntary participation: Customers can leave the program at any time, either before the program starts or during, without penalty.
- Automatic enrollment for most: In Andover, most residential and some business customers are receiving their electricity supply from the National Grid Basic Service. For these customers, entry into the program is simple and easy. Ratepayers are given a 30-day period during which they have the opportunity to opt out (i.e., not participate) or choose one of the program’s optional products. Those who do not opt out are automatically enrolled in the program.
Each customer eligible for automatic enrollment will receive a Customer Notification Letter in the mail. It will contain program details and provide ways to opt out via prepaid mailer, phone and/or online form.
- Opt-in required for some: Those Massachusetts residents and businesses who have already chosen an electricity supplier other than National Grid are not automatically enrolled in the program, though they can voluntarily opt into the program at any time during the contract term. The Department of Public Utilities advises all third party supply customers to review their contract terms as their supplier may impose a fee or penalty in order to leave before their supply contract ends.
Solar electricity consumers will not be impacted and will continue to receive all net metering credits while participating in the Program.
Budget Billing and Low Income Delivery Rate customers will continue to receive those benefits from the utility while participating in the Program.
Questions & Support
Have questions about the program design or approval process? Please visit the contact page and send us your inquiry.