The Energy Consumer's Bulletin- a New England energy news blog

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Our programs (5)

They knocked on my door! The competitive electricity supplier conundrum

Have you recently received salespeople at your door or offers in the mail from competitive electricity suppliers? They lay the pitch on thick with too-good-to be true rates and feel-good energy mixes. It may seem hard to poke holes in the pitch, but under the smiling surface, many of these suppliers use smoke and mirror marketing to get their foot in the door and your signature on a contract.

Picture of Katy Kidwell Katy Kidwell

People’s Power & Light's 14th Year Celebration

Little Rhody has the opportunity to be a big leader for sustainability. There are several bills on the table this legislative session that span a range of energy issues. These policies were highlighted this past week at People’s Power & Light’s (PP&L) 14th Annual Meeting.

Community members and industry professionals gathered at the meeting to hear from Rhode Island officials, including Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, Office of Energy Resources Commissioner Dr. Marion Gold, Senator Susan Sosnowski, and Representative Deborah Ruggiero. In The Attorney General’s words, “PP&L is a pro-clean energy group, an inexpensive energy group, a group that wants to help disseminate power to those that need it most.”

by Kat Burnham

Why We Host Renewable Energy Tours

Some of the unique and, for us, most exciting aspects of our work at Mass Energy and People’s Power & Light are our site visits to local sources of renewable energy.

Since we only buy renewable energy from New England projects on behalf of our members, it’s not hard to bring them right to the source of their electricity. And not only that, but many developers and owners are keen to share their particular story.

Pua Higginson
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Picture of Erin Taylor Erin Taylor

Why Buying New England Class I RECs is the Only Way to Make the Switch

The average home uses electricity all day long and most of us don’t even think about it. You may have heard that you can use your energy dollar to demand 100% clean renewable electricity instead of your utility’s dirty resource mix. Programs aimed at helping you green up the grid are numerous in this country, but many don’t deliver the intended results. However, in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, there is one way to ensure that your green power payments are making a difference:  by purchasing Class I or “new” Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

The subject matter in this blog is still relevant in 2019, but for a more current blog on the same topic, click here.

Picture of Katy Kidwell Katy Kidwell

Timmons Roberts: The greenest thing to do

Guest blog originally posted in the Providence Journal on Nov. 13, 2015.

Last summer, I took about five minutes and switched my electricity from National Grid’s regular plan to a group called People’s Power and Light, which sources electricity from all renewables here in our own region. In those five minutes, I did more to combat climate change than perhaps anything else I do.

by Timmons Roberts

Another Year of Clean Energy Success: Mass Energy's 33rd Annual Meeting

On Wednesday, October 21st 2015, Mass Energy celebrated 33 years of working to make energy more affordable and environmentally sustainable.

Those who attended the meeting will remember Executive Director Larry Chretien’s reference to Mass Energy as being akin to the “platypus of the animal kingdom”— highlighting Mass Energy’s unique structure as a non-profit run like a business. Larry referred to Mass Energy as a “social business”, composed of people who understand that there is more than one way of making energy more affordable and environmentally sustainable.

by Puanoa A. Higginson