How aggregation works

Municipal electricity aggregation is a form of group electricity purchasing. Electricity aggregation replaces your electricity supplier and it changes the price that National Grid uses to calculate the Supply Services charge of your electricity bill. In addition, aggregation can increase the amount of renewable energy in your electricity supply. But electricity aggregation does not replace National Grid as your electric utility.

Here’s how it works:

Without Foxborough Power Forward

(Unless you already have a contract with an electricity supplier)

When you first open your electricity account, National Grid provides two services to you as an electricity customer, and your electricity bill includes charges for both of these services:

Electricity delivery

National Grid’s primary role is as an electricity delivery company. They deliver electricity to you, maintain the poles and wires, and address power outages. They charge you for these services on the Delivery Services portion of your National Grid electricity bill.

Electricity supply

For new accounts, National Grid also provides a second service, which is as an electricity supplier. They purchase electricity on your behalf and charge you on the Supply Services portion of your National Grid electricity bill for the amount you use. When National Grid is your electricity supplier, you have National Grid’s Basic Service, and the price that is used to calculate your Supply Services charge is National Grid’s Basic Service price.

The diagram below shows National Grid’s Basic Service, with National Grid supplying electricity in addition to delivering it.

Diagram describing how supply and delivery works without Foxborough Power Forward. Detailed description above after the header Without Foxborough Power Forward.

National Grid’s fixed Basic Service prices change seasonally, every 6 months for residential and commercial customers and every 3 months for industrial customers, and future prices are not known.

With Foxborough Power Forward

In an electricity aggregation like Foxborough Power Forward, National Grid continues to deliver your electricity and you continue to call them when the power goes out, but you no longer have National Grid’s Basic Service for the Supply Services portion of your electricity bill. Instead, National Grid uses a Foxborough Power Forward price to calculate that portion of your bill. Through Foxborough Power Forward, the Town of Foxborough uses the bulk purchasing power of the community to negotiate a contract with an electricity supplier and to determine the price for the community’s electricity supply.

The Foxborough Power Forward price is a fixed, long-term price that does not change seasonally.

What changes on your bill?

If you participate, you will see two changes on your National Grid electricity bill beginning the month after you enroll:

Foxborough’s electricity supplier, Direct Energy, will be listed on your bill as your electricity supplier.

National Grid will use the Foxborough Power Forward price to calculate the Supply Services portion of your electricity bill instead of their own Basic Service price.

Nothing else changes.

Your primary relationship for electricity remains with National Grid when you participate in Foxborough Power Forward:

You will continue to receive one bill from National Grid. This is the only electricity bill you will receive as a participant in Foxborough Power Forward.

You will continue to call National Grid if your power goes out. National Grid will continue to deliver electricity, restore electricity service after a power outage, and maintain the poles and wires.

If you have solar panels on your property or participate in a community solar program, you will continue to receive the solar credits and/or solar incentive payments that you receive now, and participating in Foxborough Power Forward will not change how they are calculated.

If you are eligible for a low-income discount, you will continue to receive that discount.

Participating in the program

All new electricity customers in Foxborough will be eligible for automatic enrollment in Foxborough Power Forward within a few months of opening their account. The automatic enrollment model is state law for municipal electricity programs like Foxborough Power Forward.

You will receive a notification in the mail from the Town of Foxborough with information about the program before being automatically enrolled. If you do not wish to participate, you may opt out before being automatically enrolled or any time after enrollment, with no penalty. If you choose to opt out, National Grid will continue to be your electricity supplier, and National Grid will continue using their own Basic Service price to calculate the Supply Services portion of your electricity bill.

Please note: The notification letter will come in an envelope bearing the Foxborough Town seal, and the letter itself will bear both the Foxborough Town seal and Foxborough Town Manager Bill Keegan’s name. If you receive a communication that does not include the Town seal, it is not from the Town of Foxborough.