Amherst Bulletin
Commentary
John Kinchla: Municipal electric companies and energy costs
Wednesday, February 01, 2023
Recent reporting on utility rate increases has overlooked an important exception to this trend. Municipal light plants (MLP), which are municipally owned electric companies, have been able to control costs without excessive price increases. Massachusetts has 41 municipal light plants serving 50 communities, and if you are lucky enough to be served by one of these companies, you are probably paying between 30-80% less than what Eversource and National Grid customers are at this time. Locally, Chicopee, Westfield, Holyoke, and South Hadley are served by MLPs. It would be interesting to learn more about how MLPs are able to keep their costs controlled in the current energy market, and why a large utility like National Grid can’t seem to do the same. It also would be interesting to hear the state Department of Public Utilities’ response to that question.
John Kinchla
Hadley
