The Portsmouth Community Electricity program has set its winter supply rates, with the default option priced below Rhode Island Energy’s residential rate and including 5 percent additional renewable energy from Rhode Island sources.
The program’s standard residential rate is 16.929 cents per kilowatt-hour, against Rhode Island Energy’s Last Resort Service price of 17.029 cents from Oct. 1 through March 31. A Basic option with no added renewable energy runs 16.705 cents. Two higher-priced options add renewable energy to 50 percent or 100 percent, at 17.108 and 19.344 cents.
The prices are fixed for six months, beginning with the November meter read and running through the May 2027 read. Current participants don’t need to do anything to stay enrolled.
The town said participants will receive the bill credits announced this month — roughly $20 a month from January through March under the governor’s energy affordability emergency, and about $14 a month beginning in October under the Rhode Island Energy hold-harmless settlement, for a customer using 500 kilowatt-hours a month. Supply prices are rising this winter, as they are for Rhode Island Energy customers, but the town said the credits should keep total bills at or below what customers paid this summer.
Customers on Rhode Island Energy’s low-income rate receive a discount on their full bill, putting the effective standard rate at about 11.85 cents.
Participants can switch options or leave the program at any time without penalty, and non-participants can join at any time. Anyone who opted out in May would need to rejoin.
The renewable energy comes from Rhode Island projects including the Narragansett Bay Commission’s wind turbines at Fields Point in Providence, solar in West Greenwich and wind in Coventry. The town said participants buy more than 2,700 megawatt-hours of voluntary renewable energy a year.
Portsmouth is one of eight Rhode Island municipalities in the program, along with Newport, Barrington, Central Falls, Narragansett, North Kingstown, Providence and South Kingstown. Changes can be made at electricity.portsmouthri.com or by calling NextEra Energy Services at 888-387-1083.
