This is the first year that the Massachusetts Sierra Club has prioritized municipal light plant commissioner elections. We recognized that commissioners have outsized policymaking power around municipal clean energy decisions and decided to dig a little deeper.
There are two types of electrical utilities that distribute electrical service to consumers in Massachusetts:
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Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs), such as Eversource and National Grid, owned by private shareholders; and,
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Municipal Light Plants (MLPs) owned by municipal governments.
There are 40 MLPs in Massachusetts who provide approximately 14% of the electricity currently consumed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. All MLPs are governed by a board of commissioners (typically with 3 or 5 members) that are generally elected in annual spring town elections. Note that there are exceptions. There are a handful of towns where either the Selectmen appoint the MLP commissioners or act as the commissioners themselves. There are also three towns with fall MLP elections.
State law allows MLPs to develop their own generation capabilities, something investor-owned utilities are prohibited from doing. This means that MLPs have more freedom to determine the towns energy mix. By virtue of their non-profit status and public mission, it is easier for MLPs (if they choose) to transition from old fossil fuel and nuclear power generation to new renewable sources. And, they can also more easily target reduction of peak energy demand – those times when the oldest and dirtiest generators are typically employed to meet periods of peak energy need (e.g., summer heat waves, bitter winter cold spells).
MLPs can more easily work on energy strategies – particularly, where municipalities are the critical decision-makers, such as:
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Deploying electric vehicle charging infrastructure
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Creating opportunities to site and own renewable generation within the municipality
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Converting municipal lighting to high efficiency LEDs
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Running tailored local community education campaigns to reduce energy use
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Encouraging privately-owned (i.e., residential, town and commercial) renewable (e.g., solar roofs, heat pumps, small-scale wind)
While MLPs are generally small, their industry associations allow them to work together to create beneficial economies of scale for clean energy planning and purchasing, renewable energy generation development, and energy efficient programs.
Taken together, these qualities make environmentally conscious MLP commissioners uniquely well-positioned to push innovative and aggressive clean energy programs.
Our partner, the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) has done a tremendous amount of work in this arena and recently released a report of Massachusetts Municipal Light Plants. You can view the full report on MCAN’s website or check out their video above.