City of Gloucester Announces Continuation of Community Electricity Aggregation Program

GLOUCESTER — The City of Gloucester and Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken announce the city will continue its electricity aggregation program, Gloucester Community Electricity Aggregation, for an additional three years through December 2024.

Gloucester residents and small businesses who take part in Gloucester CEA do not need to do anything to continue their participation.

“We’re very excited that the program has been able to secure pricing for another three years, doubling the amount of additional renewable electricity from 5 percent to 10 percent while keeping the cost of our Local Green option essentially the same,” said Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken. “We are looking forward to the program continuing to provide benefits for our community for years to come.”

Gloucester CEA offers three electricity choices with different amounts of renewable energy. Most participants are enrolled in Gloucester Local Green; participants can change products at any time without penalty or fee.

The rate for the standard product, Gloucester Local Green, will decrease slightly from $0.11085 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to $0.11071/kWh. The new rate is still lower than the National Grid rate for Basic Service Residential customers, $0.14821/kWh from November 2021 to April 2022.

While future savings cannot be guaranteed because future National Grid Basic Service rates beyond April 2022 are unknown, the City of Gloucester is committed to working towards affordable and stable electricity rates through the Gloucester CEA program.

Gloucester has used the power of thousands of participants in its program to increase the demand for more renewable energy since the program’s start in 2018. The additional renewables are sourced entirely from New England, and annually, the program now purchases approximately 4,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) more renewable electricity (in MA Class I Renewable Energy Certificates, which are a measure of renewable electricity), than required by Massachusetts law. That additional consumption is sourced from, and nearly equal to the annual output of one turbine at the Blackburn Industrial Park located in Gloucester.

The new electricity rates automatically take effect for Gloucester CEA program participants as of their December 2021 meter read dates. Participants will see the new rate for their current Gloucester CEA product reflected in the supply portion of bills received after December.

Constellation will be the new electricity supplier for the program. National Grid, the electric utility in Gloucester, will continue to deliver electricity and bill program participants.

The Gloucester CEA program is part of a larger movement in Massachusetts to provide more local control and electricity choices to residents and small businesses; More than 160 Massachusetts cities and towns have an electricity aggregation program.

Those who have not been part of the Gloucester CEA can read more at the program website at Gloucester-CEA.com.