Northborough held a public information session where the town’s energy consultant, Mass Power Choice, explained Northborough Power Choice, a municipal electricity aggregation that will automatically enroll most National Grid basic‑service accounts in May 2025 and place the new supply price on participating customers’ bills in June.

The program offers three supply options. The default “Northborough Economy” price is 13.964¢ per kilowatt‑hour (¢/kWh), which Mass Power Choice said is lower than National Grid’s then‑current residential basic‑service price of 14.672¢/kWh. Two optional tiers are available by request: “Northborough Green,” which adds about 20% additional renewable energy above the state minimum, and “Green Plus,” a 100% renewable option. All three supplier prices are fixed for two years from May 2025 to May 2027 under the announced contract.

Marlena Patton, a consultant with Mass Power Choice, described the program as “a municipal electricity aggregation program” and said it is “a town program that’s being offered as a service to the community, and it’s specific for Northborough.” Patton said the aggregation changes only the supplier that buys electricity for participating accounts; National Grid will remain the town’s delivery utility, responsible for poles, wires and outages. “You still call National Grid,” Patton said when asked about outages.

Patton explained why the program exists and how it differs from private supplier offers: it pools the town’s purchasing power to obtain a competitive long‑term fixed price. She noted the program is regulated by the state and that the town must provide public notice at least 30 days before any price change. “All the prices are fixed for 2 years from May 2025 to May 2027,” Patton said, contrasting the program’s fixed contract with National Grid’s basic‑service prices, which change on a short schedule.

Enrollment rules: Most customers on National Grid basic service will be automatically enrolled in May 2025 and will see the new supplier price on their June bill; customers who previously asked National Grid to place an enrollment block on their account are not auto‑eligible but may request enrollment. Customers who have an existing private supply contract are not automatically enrolled but may opt in once their private contract ends; Patton advised customers to call customer support during the final billing cycle of a private contract to avoid early termination problems.

Patton said existing bill features are unchanged by the program: National Grid will continue to apply any low‑income discounts, budget plan arrangements and solar or community‑solar credits on the delivery portion of the bill. On the separation between supply and delivery charges, she said customers should “look for supply services” on the bill to see the supplier name (First Point Power) and the supply price line that will change for participants.

During the question‑and‑answer period, residents asked how the three options might change after the two‑year contract ends. Patton said the town will go back out to bid and that all three options would be reissued together under the next contract; however, the voluntary renewable component layered onto the base price could change independently, so the three options might move differently depending on market conditions and any change in the town’s chosen renewable percentages. Patton also reiterated that changes are public and subject to regulatory notice requirements.

On other consumer concerns, Patton said charges shown under the delivery portion of a bill (for example an electric vehicle charge) are regulated delivery charges the program cannot change and recommended customers contact National Grid with billing questions.

For more information, Patton directed residents to northboroughpowerchoice.com and to a customer‑support phone line for Mass Power Choice (number provided during the session). Town Assistant Administrator Diane Wackle opened the session and said an additional information session would be held at the Northborough Senior Center on Thursday at 1 p.m.