PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council approved Tuesday starting the process to purchase electricity as a group.

 

Without any discussion, the council unanimously declared its intention to become a a power aggregator. From there, Colonial Power will craft plans to bid for electricity and then the Department of Energy Resources and the Department of Public Utilities will both have to approve the plan. From there, Colonial Power will put nearly all of the city's power usage — residential, commercial, and municipal — into one bid.  

 

Eleven other towns in the Berkshires already run an aggregation program, 10 of which combined for a single bid. The bids are for the electrical supplier; Eversource will continue to be the distributor. Anybody who uses Eversource's basic package of electricity will be affected.

 

Electric producers will bid prices for the city's electrical use and the City Council will decide whether to sign a contract with the producers. Colonial Power is consulting on the process and gets paid if the city signs a contract. Colonials payment is included in the power price.

 

For the end user, very little will change. Eversource will remain the go-to for every issue. Eversource will remain the company handling the residential billing.

 

"For the end user, there is no change," Colonial Power President Mark Cappadona told the council's Committee on Community and Economic Development last month. "All you are dealing with is the electron running through the wire at a more stable rate."

 

If and when a contract is signed, users will have an opt-out option; anyone who already contracted with another producer would not be automatically included. Those with basic service who do not opt out will get the power from city's selected producer but everything else will remain. Other towns that have participated have seen lower pricing because of the group purchasing. 

 

"We want to deliver savings to the residents. The savings may not be huge but it will be savings," said James McGrath, of the city's Department of Community Development. 

 

Cappadona said 85 percent of the city's users have basic service; the rate for opt-out in other towns has been about 3 percent. Those who already purchase from another provider will also have the ability to switch to the group contract, he said.

 

The city is not expected to take on any financial obligation in the process — only the efforts of choosing and reviewing the supplier contracts. 

 

"There is no financial obligation for any of the work prior to or leading up to when we sign a contract with the supplier," McGrath said. "The only role we play is to simply oversee what Colonial is doing and making sure they are working on our behalf."