The Jan. 27 meeting of the Hudson Sustainability Committee included an update on the status of Hudson’s Community Power Program.
“As of the end of December the total number of accounts in town was 8,720,” reported alternate Craig Putnam. “The community participation rate since launch was 70%. Opt-in since launch was 3.9% with 25 new ones, which is good. Opt-outs are 4.3%, with two new ones in the past month, also good. That number is low.”
An overwhelming majority of residents still use the default Granite Basic plan. He recommended holding off on a planned presentation from Freedom Energy Logistics on a net metering presentation following a similar proposal from the Community Power Coalition of NH, where Putnam serves on the Board of Directors.
Despite the potential offering, he reported that CPCNH might not be able to make a presentation of its own in the near future due to sudden financial issues.
“I have been made aware of some hedging transactions, in other words, contracts for electricity supply that were made over the past number of months by CPCH’s CEO that were arguably outside the policies and procedures CPCNH has established for itself. Those hedges have resulted in significant losses for the CPCNH’s joint reserve fund shared by all CPCNH’s member communities,” Putnam explained. “The losses are estimated to be between 8.6 and $12.3 million.”
As much of the revenue was uncollected, Putnam was unable to give a more exact number. He stated the CPCNH Board of Directors was working to stabilize the reserve fund. It was unclear what this would mean for the community power plan, although Putnam warned it may be necessary to “revise” the already published supply rates for the upcoming rate period. Currently, the community power rate for those on the Granite Basic plan is set at 8.9 cents per kilowatt hour for residents and small businesses. The published Eversource rate is 8.929 cents per kilowatt hour. If the rate goes up, it will not take effect until the start of March.
“CPCNH is working to determine whether a revision to the published rate will in fact be necessary,” said Putnam. “This will depend on several things: how CPCNH is able to recover from the aforementioned nonstandard hedges, new hedges being put into place this week, and price increases in the electricity supply market.”
Winter was colder than predicted, leading to higher-than-predicted rates. Any rate change will be immediately published.
“These losses, what do they represent as a percentage of the fund?” asked Selectman Liaison Bob Guessferd. “Was it a huge amount? The numbers are large.”
Putnam did not have the percentages and did not want to speculate, but said it was “enough to trigger red flags” and to worry the CPCNH Board of Directors. He promised there would be “consequences” for those responsible.
“I think there’s obviously more to come here,” said Guessferd.
The Hudson Sustainability Committee is scheduled to meet again on Monday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Buxton Room of Town Hall.
