A public information session will be held at the Gilsum Town Hall on Monday, May 6 at 6:30 as that town gets ready to launch their community power membership on June 1st. Letters have gone out to all town residents explaining the process, and anyone with questions should attend this session.
Gilsum joins the towns of Hinsdale, Roxbury, Winchester, Chesterfield, Nelson, Dublin and Fitzwilliam as member communities who have chosen to take control of their energy futures, and allow their residents to save on electricity costs. The town of Troy has recently voted to join CCP and will start their process this month. In addittion, I will present the community power plan to the town Surry on Monday, May 13th.
The Cheshire Community Power residential rate of 8.1 cents per kilowatt hour compares with Keene’s 11.4 cents and Eversource’s 8.285 cents, plus has the added advantage of accumulating reserves that will be used to build renewable infrastructure for future resiliency.
Cheshire County is the first county to launch a community power program in New Hampshire. As a member of The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH), towns and individuals can join Cheshire Community Power and use a fast-track approach to adopt the benefits of community power. This approach eliminates the administrative and regulatory burdens of getting approvals from the Public Utilities Commission and drafting their own electric aggregation plans.
Cheshire County’s pioneer blueprint allows other New Hampshire counties to begin discussions on adopting community power as a benefit to their communities. Merrimack County has recently joined the coalition.
I am thrilled to be able to bring cost control and savings to our county government. Offering a fast-track approach for the towns will also allow them to enjoy the extensive benefits of community power in a straightforward manner.
Cheshire County was involved in founding CPCNH in 2019, and we have worked alongside Lebanon, Nashua, and Hanover to help pioneer community power for the state. Now, every city and town will be able to reap the benefits that community power is bringing.
Community Power, authorized under NH RSA 53-E, democratizes energy governance by empowering towns, cities, and counties to choose where their electricity comes from on behalf of their residents and businesses, work with utilities on local energy infrastructure upgrades, and provide electricity supply rates and services to all customers participating in the program.
Under community power, electric distribution utilities continue to own and operate the power grid while local communities gain control over where their power is sourced from.
Town select boards can contact the county or get more information at https://www.communitypowernh.gov/cheshire.
In addition, any individual ratepayer in any Cheshire County town, regardless of their town’s energy plan, can opt-in to Cheshire Community Power by going to the above website.
Terry M. Clark
County Commissioner
Chair, Cheshire Community Power
12 West St., Keene, NH 03431
tclark@co.cheshire.nh.us
Commissioner Terry Clark 
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