SUNAPEE — For the second six-month period this year, community power rates are more expensive than electric rates from legacy utilities, leaving some Upper Valley towns in limbo.
At annual town meetings in March, residents in Sunapee and Canaan approved community power plans. The approvals cleared a path for the towns to become default electricity suppliers for residents in an effort to reduce and stabilize energy costs and offer more renewable options.
But even before voters approved the plans it was clear the roll out would not be the same as for the many other towns in the Upper Valley and statewide that have already launched.
Per the approved plans, the towns cannot join the community power program if utility rates are higher through community power than with private providers, something that had not happened until this year.
The rates will remain where they are until February.
“We’ll be watching for the next rate period and hopefully for all ratepayers we’ll continue to have competition and better rates,” Sunapee Electric Aggregation Committee Chairwoman Catherine Bushueff said.
The statewide community power movement began in 2023 and is largely being spearheaded by the nonprofit Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, CPCNH, which is now the second-largest electricity supplier in the state per New Hampshire Public Radio.
In January, for the first time since CPCNH launched in 2023, the nonprofit offered higher rates than some private utilities through July 31. For the current rate window, which stretches from Aug. 1, 2025 through Jan. 31, 2026, rates are higher again for CPCNH than other providers.
CPCNH raised its rates in January after a deal with a power generator fell through, forcing the nonprofit to make changes to cover costs, according to a January news release.
Extremely cold winter weather raised energy prices further, as did an ongoing shift in “the state of natural gas,” Jackson Kaspari, director of member services for CPCNH said in an interview.
This time around, Kaspari said the rates are up in order to meet financial targets and “appropriately cover costs and lead to the financial health of the organization.”
Ahead of Town Meeting, Hope Stragnell, chairwoman of the Canaan Electric Aggregation Committee told the Valley News that waiting to launch would give the town “more time to get more information out to people.”
Since then, Cannan submitted its plan to the state Public Utilities Commission in early July and is waiting on the commission’s approval, Stragnell said.
“At that point, we will need to see what happens after the next rate adjustment meetings in December,” Stragnell said in a recent email. “If all goes well, we will launch in 2026!”
While Sunapee also plays the waiting game, the town’s Energy Aggregation Committee continues to hold monthly meetings.
Since March, the Sunapee’s Bushueff said the group decided to contract with the Community Power Coalition to implement the power program, a decision that was still outstanding at Town Meeting.
The next step is for the Sunapee Selectboard to review and approve of a contract with the Coalition, Bushueff explained. Doing so will put the town in position to launch the program when rates come back down.
But, whether rates will come down in January or remain elevated is unclear, CPCNH’s Kaspari said.
The Coalition is reviewing regulatory and legislative policies as well as risk management policies to “better inform our strategies moving forward,” Kaspari said. Though he declined to provide more details on the changes, he said these will hopefully help to cut costs.
“That is obviously a goal of ours and I think it’s achievable.”