Lincoln Select Board authorizes electricity aggregation contract with three-tier pricing

LINCOLN — November 23, 2020 — Lincoln authorizes electricity aggregation contract with three-tier pricing ahead of Dec. 1 bid opening. The Select Board unanimously authorized Town Administrator Tim Higgins to sign a community choice aggregation contract with the lowest qualifying bidder on Dec. 1, locking in a structure that defaults residents to a "basic green" option benchmarked to Eversource's winter residential basic service rate and rounded to the nearest 5 percent renewable content, projected near 50 percent total. A budget option will add 2 percent renewable energy certificates above the state's 18 percent floor, priced below Eversource's blended rate; a total green option reaches 100 percent. Green Energy Committee representative CJ said "as long as the program is in operation and that RPS keeps going up, the number of renewables will have to purchase for that level will go down." Member Paul Shorb read the seven-sentence motion in full at his own insistence: "As a lawyer, I love precision." The contract term will run between 12 and 36 months. Outreach begins in late January; the program launches in March.