Opt Up for CLIMATE with MILTON CEA!
At Sustainable Milton, we spend a lot of time thinking about how Milton residents can take action to reduce the impacts of Climate Change. We strongly encourage every Milton resident to opt into the 100% Green electricity option in Milton’s Community Electricity Aggregation program.
In this period of rising energy prices, you will have the confidence of a stable, competitive electricity price that’s fixed until November 2024. You’ll also know that every kilowatt-hour your household uses is matched by a kilowatt-hour of clean, renewable energy delivered into the New England grid, which is the foundation of Massachusetts’s plan to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. For the average Milton household, the extra cost is less than the cost of a Boston Globe subscription and is tax deductible.
How to Sign Up:
It takes only a few minutes to sign up on the Milton CEA website. To opt in to the 100% Green electricity program, have your most recent electric bill handy and fill out the form at https://miltoncea.com/enroll-or-change-your-product/. The image below shows where to find the relevant information on your Eversource bill.
Have you already opted up?
You rock! Post on our Facebook Group to let your neighbors know! Don’t forget that the cost of the additional renewable energy provided through Milton Community Electricity Aggregation is eligible for a federal tax deduction. To receive a receipt to file with your 2022 taxes, you must fill out the form here. Hard copy letters are not being mailed.
What does it cost?
If you are not currently enrolled in the Milton CEA program prices for the supply charge part of your Eversource bill, it's possible you could save money on your electric bill by enrolling in Green 100.
-
Beginning January 1, Eversource’s Basic Service electricity supply price for residential customers increased to a new high of 25.776 ¢/kWh.
-
This is in addition to the delivery price charged to all Eversource customers regardless of their supplier choice, currently between 14-15 ¢/kWh depending on your heating source.
-
The total electricity price for Eversource Basic Service is around 40 ¢/kWh, over an 87% increase from the price in January 2021.
-
The Eversource Basic Service price will remain fixed until June 30, 2023.
Milton CEA offers three price options that are fixed until November 2024. All three are lower than Eversource’s current price. The default Milton Green plan, which Milton residents were enrolled in unless they specifically opted out, costs 10.848 ¢/kWh for a total cost including delivery of 24.961 ¢/kWh. This means an average Milton household using 707 kWh/month will save $1,268 this year thanks to the CEA program.
The Green 100 plan charges 14.133 ¢/kWh, so opting up would cost an average household in the Milton Green plan an extra $23.25 / month, though they would still save $989 / year compared to Eversource Basic Service. Future savings cannot be guaranteed once Eversource Basic Service prices change after 6/30/2023, but customers can leave the CEA program at any time without penalty. Use the CEA website’s calculator tool to estimate the costs based on your own electricity usage.
Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the centrality of clean electricity in the state's Net-Zero by 2050 plans, and the trustworthiness and transparency of the Milton CEA program, we think opting up to Green 100 would be an excellent addition to your household's charitable giving budget. Like other charitable giving, the cost of the extra Green Electricity in the CEA program is tax deductible.
Am I eligible to participate?
Anyone who pays for electricity service to a Milton building can participate. If you currently purchase electricity from a supplier other than Eversource or Milton CEA, switching fees may apply.
How does “green electricity” work?
It is not physically possible to track an electron from a power generator to your house. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are the accepted legal instrument used to track renewable energy generation and to substantiate claims of renewable energy use. For each megawatt-hour generated at a renewable energy facility, one REC is created, and only the person who purchases and “retires” that REC can claim to have “consumed” that megawatt-hour. MA Class I RECs come only from solar, wind, anaerobic digestion and low-impact hydro located within New England. The Massachusetts renewable portfolio standard requires Eversource to deliver 22% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2023, which means they must purchase RECs equivalent to 22% of the megawatt-hours they supply to their customers. The “Milton Green” and “Milton Green 100” contain RECs above that required by the Commonwealth. All of the additional RECs included in these options are designated as Massachusetts Class I, so your contributions for REC purchases increase demand for renewable energy on the New England power grid, fund new sources of renewable power, and reduce our need to burn fossil fuels for electricity. You can learn more about this and see a map of the facilities where the energy is generated here.