Cape Light updates aggregation plan

The Cape Light Compact, which pioneered the concept of “municipal aggregation” in the state more than a decade ago, is in the final stages of updating its own energy-aggregation plan at the request of the Department of Public Utilities.

Municipal aggregation – which outside of Cape Cod exists in only about a half-dozen Massachusetts communities – enables ratepayers in a municipality or regional entity to pool their purchasing power, which typically leads to savings in electricity costs.

The DPU’s request of Cape Light was outlined in a letter in late August, when Lowell and several other communities were seeking approval of energy aggregation plans of their own. (The Lowell plan has since been approved.) The DPU letter stated that Cape Light’s 14-year-old aggregation plan “may no longer fully and accurately reflect” the current aggregation program.

Maggie Downey, the Cape Light Compact’s administrator, said she was somewhat surprised by the DPU’s request, given that the Cape Light Compact had made several refinements over the years to its aggregation program. The changes that the DPU requested were already reflected in the intermunicipal agreement among the towns that make up the Cape Light Compact, but not in the aggregation plan itself, she said.

The updated plan was the subject of three public information sessions in January and is expected to go into effect shortly after the seven-week public comment period ends on Feb. 7.

The plan stipulates the creation of a procurement officer position, a role that Downey said she will assume along with her other responsibilities.

Communities that are in the process of seeking DPU approval for municipal aggregation plans include Ashby, Clarksburg, Dalton, Florida, Lenox, Natick, New Marlborough, North Adams, Sheffield, Tyringham, West Stockbridge and Williamstown.