Dive into Our Power Supply Program through this Animated Video
One of the pillars of Cape Light Compact’s mission is its commitment to providing customers with stable electricity prices and access to renewable energy. The Compact’s power supply program, which began in 2002, is specifically designed to achieve these goals. How does the program work? Check out our latest video, plus the answers to some common questions, to learn more.
Q: What is the Compact’s power supply program?
A: The Compact’s power supply program ensures customers have access to worry-free, competitively-priced electricity. To do this, the Compact aggregates the energy use of its entire power supply customer base, then solicits bids from power suppliers to serve that aggregated load in order to secure competitive pricing and customer-friendly terms. The Compact works with its selected supplier to provide customers with stable pricing that is generally fixed for six months at a time – and often less than the basic service price offered by the Cape and Vineyard’s local utility. In addition, since 2017, the Compact has taken the extra step to ensure that 100% of the energy used by power supply program participants is matched with renewable energy, specifically through the purchase and retirement of RECs.
Q: What is a “REC”?
A: A REC is a Renewable Energy Certificate. One REC is generated for every 1,000-kilowatt hours of renewable energy produced by qualified renewable energy facilities in the United States. Since there is no way to distinguish renewable energy from non-renewable energy at its point of use, RECs are the industry standard used to track renewable energy at its production site and comply with applicable mandated and voluntary renewable energy requirements. The Compact’s power supplier, currently NextEra® Energy Services, purchases and retires RECs to meet the usage of the Compact’s power supply customers. Check out this blog post for more details on the important role RECs play in the Compact’s power supply program.
Q: How does the Compact’s power supply program support new renewable energy development?
A: A key component of the power supply program is providing access to and support for renewable energy, which it does in several ways. First, the purchase and retirement of RECs helps drive up the value of these credits by tightening the market, spurring the need for more renewable energy projects to come online to meet the demand. Second, NextEra deposits revenue from the purchase of these RECs, plus their supplier service fees, into a renewable energy trust, and uses those funds to build renewable energy projects here in New England whenever possible.
Q: What’s the difference between the Compact’s power supply program and its CLC Local Green Program?
A: The Compact’s power supply program ensures that all the electricity use of the Compact’s power supply customers is matched by renewable energy. The CLC Local Green Program takes this process one step further, by providing customers with the option to have an additional 50% or 100% of their electricity matched with regional Massachusetts Class 1 RECs. These RECs are associated only with renewable energy generated in New England, which means participation in CLC Local Green provides a chance to support the growth in local renewable energy generation.
Q: How do I sign up for the power supply program or CLC Local Green?
A: Call the Compact’s power supplier at 1-800-381-9192 or visit CapeLightCompact.org to learn more and sign up! We’re happy to help you sign up for our standard power supply program or either of our CLC Local Green offers.
To learn more, visit CapeLightCompact.org/Power-Supply.