Eco-group encouraging Shutesbury to green up

By Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on March 02, 2007

SHUTESBURY - The Center for Ecological Technology is encouraging area residents to follow the lead of their neighbors, in towns like Shutesbury and Wendell, to enroll in the Clean Energy Choice program to help create funding for renewable energy projects and initiatives in local communities.

According to Peggy Macleod, marketing director for New England Greenstart, the program creates a pool of money by calculating a contribution from enrollees of up to 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity used.

That amount is added to customers' utility bills and shown as a separate line item so customers can see exactly how much their contribution will be.

Contributions vary based on electricity usage but average between $6 to $10 a month for residential customers, according to Tomasin Whitaker, clean energy outreach coordinator for CET.

Those contributions are a premium on top of the regular monthly bill that National Grid electricity customers receive, said Whitaker. Macleod said that on top of funds collected from customers, the state will matches a portion as well.

Those funds are lumped together and put into a fund that is used for clean energy projects and initiatives.

The solar panels on the roof of the Shutesbury Elementary School, which provide some of its electricity, were largely funded through money raised through the program.

And, there is also an extra incentive for communities to encourage their residents to enroll for the program sooner rather than later.

Between now and March 31, towns that have at least three percent of their households enrolled in the program will receive a grant in the amount of $50 per participant.

Some communities have already exceeded that amount and have had their bar raised higher, according to Macleod.

Because Shutesbury had already enrolled well over 3 percent, it was asked to enroll more to qualify for the grant.

According to Macleod, Shutesbury has enrolled over 9 percent of its households in the program and is approaching 10.

That amount makes it the town with the second highest enrollment percentage in the state, with Wendell being the first.

According to Macleod, Wendell has more than 10 percent of its residential customers enrolled in the program and may use the funds to install a set of solar panels on their library.

While Wendell has a higher percentage of their population enrolled, they have a population just over half that of Shutesbury.

As of Dec. 31, 2006, Shutesbury had earned $15,759 through its participation in the program, and Wendell earned $8,675.

Macleod said that Amherst was in the process of trying to enroll enough customers to clear the 3 percent hurdle before the March 31 deadline and are about 100 customers short.

Macleod said that most people who enroll in the program do so to reduce the amount of their climate change footprint by helping to make small, but steady contributions to renewable energy initiatives.

"It's sort of a no-brainer," she said.