[Summit] [EXTERNAL] How is the city's electricity deal even possible?

Fri Mar 17 14:21:22 UTC 2023

2 small points.  One is that in a non monopoly system  with easy shifts among producers for customers, competition keeps prices competitive so they have to do better work to earn more money, not just charge more.  They also have to keep their promise about renewable energy or folks can opt out with no penalty and switch back if they change their evil ways.

The actual virtues or lack thereof in the program are a critical issue and we all need proper information to make good choices. From what I hear it is a decent program.  

But the merits of the program eventually have to be divorced from the piss poor rollout by the city.  The rollout was botched.  Early communication was missing.   No reasonable human being could say the rollout was nailed.  But that is what we expect from our City.  But in any case that botched rollout does not materially effect the nature of the program.  

The city has responded to our questions and concerns and went overtime to fill the information void.  They also delayed decision day and put in a number of forums.  I am glad they have responded.  

One strange thought did pop into my mind.  Maybe the botched job was done to get our attention since otherwise no one would have paid attention and community support is necessary for success?  Are they really that clever at city hall?  I think not.  Mayor needs to get up to speed.  greg

On 3/17/23, 9:09 AM, "Summit on behalf of Proft, Kevin" <summit-bounces at sna.providence.ri.us <mailto:summit-bounces at sna.providence.ri.us> on behalf of Kproft at providenceri.gov <mailto:Kproft at providenceri.gov>> wrote:

Hi John,

There are multiple goals of the Providence Community Electricity (PCE) program, including to provide customers with competitive energy rates compared to the utility and to secure a greater percentage of renewable energy. Ideally, the PCE rate will usually be lower, though that can't be guaranteed in every 6-month contract period. NextEra, our supplier, has a strong incentive to keep rates low, because if they don't customers will opt out. 

NextEra's experience includes serving all communities on Cape Cod through the Cape Light Compact, as well as 23 other municipal aggregation programs in Massachusetts. From December 2021 to June 2022, Cape Light Compact's supply rate was about 1 cent cheaper than the utility's basic service. From June 2022 to December 2022, the Compact's supply rate was about 1 cent lower than the utility's basic service. From December 2022 to June 2023, the Compact's supply rate was about 4 cents cheaper than the utility's basic service. 

Good Energy – the City’s consulting partner for this program – has secured savings for its approximately 50 active clients in Massachusetts over the course of each of those programs. 

Remember, if you are dissatisfied with Providence Community Electricity’s performance, you may opt out at any time, without penalty. Further, if you are only interested in securing the lowest possible rate, and do not wish to include additional renewable energy in your supply, you may opt into PCE's Providence Basic plan. This plan is cheaper because it includes only the state-required minimum for renewables - the same amount you'd receive if you went with RI Energy. You may switch between PCE plans or opt out at electricity.providenceri.gov or via phone at (888) 387-1084.

Sincerely, 

Kevin Proft
Sustainability Dept.
401-680-5476

-----Original Message-----
From: Summit <summit-bounces at sna.providence.ri.us <mailto:summit-bounces at sna.providence.ri.us>> On Behalf Of John Landry via Summit
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 2:07 PM
To: summit at sna.providence.ri.us <mailto:summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Summit] How is the city's electricity deal even possible?

Thanks for all the contributions so far. I continue to wonder about the basics of the deal. How is it that the City can get a better deal on wholesale electricity supply than our own electricity retailer? Councilor AnderBois says NextEra is more nimble than RI Energy, but I haven’t seen evidence of this. And if we are keeping RI Energy from getting low rates on supply, why? Why not just remove those restrictions? Any supplier can offer a low rate initially to attract customers.
Without good answers, I keep thinking this is mainly an attempt by the City to convince most of us to switch to a supplier with more renewables than RI Energy finds warranted. If so, that’s fine, but it seems underhanded, a kind of Plan B since Plan A, getting people voluntarily to accept more renewables, didn’t work. If it’s not about increasing the share of renewables in the electric supply, what is the driver? -John Landry, Overhill Road

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