Sutton Power Choice is a municipal electricity aggregation, which is a form of group electricity purchasing.

Typically, your electric utility, National Grid, provides two services for you:

1. They deliver your electricity (Massachusetts electric utilities are electricity delivery companies only). Delivery charges appear in the Delivery Services portion of your electric bill.
2. They also supply your electricity, which means they buy electricity for you and pass the cost along to you. The cost of the electricity they buy for you appears in the Supply Services portion of your electric bill.

But in Massachusetts, there are actually three ways to purchase your electricity:

• Your utility can do it for you, as just described. This is called Basic Service, and this is how you buy your electricity when you first open your account.
• You can sign a contract with an electricity supplier yourself. You may have received offers in the mail or over the phone.
• Your municipal government can sign a contract with an electricity supplier on your behalf. This third option is municipal electricity aggregation, and this is what Sutton Power Choice is.

If you participate in Sutton Power Choice, National Grid delivers your electricity, but Constellation appears on your National Grid bill as your electricity supplier. National Grid will use the Sutton Power Choice price to calculate the Supply Services charge on your electric bill instead of their own Basic Service price.

Sutton Power Choice provides an alternative to both National Grid’s Basic Service pricing and to other electricity supply offers in the marketplace.

You benefit in four ways:

• Predictability: Sutton signed a contract with Constellation with fixed rates through January of 2024. When that contract ends, a new contract with Constellation will go into effect with fixed rates from January 2024 through January 2026.
• Choice: The program provides two alternatives to National Grid’s Basic Service and to other electricity supply offers in the marketplace.
• Access to cost-effective cleaner electricity: You have the option to choose to receive all of your electricity from clean, renewable sources by choosing the Power Choice Green option.
• Transparency: The program is a Town-vetted alternative with no hidden fees or high-pressure tactics. You may opt out at any time with no penalty. All program terms are public. Electricity prices are fixed by contract and known in advance.

No. If you receive a personal call or visit about your electricity, that person does not represent National Grid, the Town of Sutton, or Sutton Power Choice. Neither National Grid nor the Town knocks on doors or makes individual sales phone calls. Any communication is done by mail and will bear the Town seal or National Grid logo.

If you receive a call or a visit from someone who wants to discuss your electricity, here are three things to keep in mind:

• You should treat your electricity account number like you treat your credit card information. Do not give it out unless you want to purchase your electricity from someone else.
• You do have the right to select an electricity supplier of your choice. If you choose to explore this option, please check the terms of the agreement carefully. Things to check for include, but are not limited to: minimum bill amounts, contract length requirements, early termination fees, low introductory rates that change after the introductory period ends, and rates that vary.

If you feel a salesperson has fraudulently identified themself as working for National Grid or the Town of Sutton, please report it to the Department of Public Utilities Consumer Division 617-737-2836, or DPUConsumer.Complaints@state.ma.us.

As long as Sutton decides it is providing value.

The current contract with Constellation runs through January 2024 meter reads. The Town signed a new contract with Constellation that will run from January 2024 through January 2026. When that contract ends, Sutton can either sign a new electricity supply contract and extend the program, or end the program. While the Town’s intention is to continue the program, if the Town decides to end the program, the Town will make an announcement, and all active participants will be seamlessly transitioned to National Grid’s Basic Service.

Constellation is required to have tax-exemption documentation on file for every electricity account that participates in Sutton Power Choice and has tax-exempt status. Without that documentation on file, Constellation may be required to charge tax on the account. They cannot obtain your documentation from National Grid. They must obtain it from each customer directly.

If your account has tax-exempt status, please submit your tax-exemption documentation to Constellation. Visit the tax-exempt accounts page for information on where to send your documentation.

No. Nearly half of the cities and towns in Massachusetts have electricity aggregation programs like Sutton Power Choice.

No. If you are an active program participant, your account will be automatically enrolled into the new electricity supply contract, and you will be enrolled in your current program option.

If you previously opted out of the program, you will remain opted out. You do not need to opt out again. However, if you would like to enroll in the program with the new contract, you may do so. Please contact customer support for more information.

Electricity service has two parts: supply and delivery. Supply refers to the electricity itself. Delivery is the process of bringing that electricity to you over the wires.

With Basic Service, your electric utility, National Grid, is your electricity supplier and also delivers the electricity to you.

With Sutton Power Choice, National Grid will continue to deliver your electricity, but Sutton chooses its own supplier.

A competitive electricity supplier is not your electric utility. Electricity suppliers do not deliver your electricity. They buy it for you, and your electric utility (National Grid in Sutton) delivers it.

A competitive electricity supplier is a company licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to purchase electricity and related services from the wholesale electricity markets for resale to retail electricity customers.

If you sign a private contract with an electricity supplier or you participate in a municipal program like Sutton Power Choice, National Grid will use your electricity supplier’s price to calculate the Supply Services charge on your electric bill instead of their own Basic Service price.

The program’s electricity supplier is Constellation under the current contract that ends in January 2024. Constellation will continue as the program’s electricity supplier with a new contract that takes effect in January 2024 and runs through January 2026.

Your price will be determined by which program option you are enrolled in. Sutton Power Choice has two options. Get current program prices.

The program has the potential to offer a lower price than the average of National Grid’s changing Basic Service prices, but savings cannot be predicted or guaranteed.

Here’s why: The program price is fixed until January 2024 under the current contract and January 2026 under the new contract. National Grid’s fixed Basic Service prices change seasonally, and their future prices are not known. As a result, the Sutton Power Choice price may not always be below National Grid’s current or average price.

No. National Grid will continue to bill you for your electricity. This is the only electric bill you will receive as a participant in Sutton Power Choice. The program is integrated into your existing electric bill.

See an example National Grid bill.

National Grid’s Basic Service prices change seasonally, while the program price is typically fixed for a longer period of time. As a result, it is likely that for some months, National Grid’s Basic Service price will fall below the program price. Typically, this happens during the summer months, but it could happen anytime.

Program participation is often best viewed as a longer-term effort. However, if you ever wish to leave the program, you are free to opt out of the program and return to National Grid’s Basic Service with no penalty or fee.

Yes. You will continue to receive solar credits and/or solar incentive payments, and participating in Sutton Power Choice will not change how they are calculated.

Sutton Power Choice appears on your electric bill in just two places:

1. On the Supply Services portion of your National Grid electric bill, you will see Sutton’s electricity supplier listed as your electricity supplier instead of National Grid’s Basic Service.
2. The price that National Grid uses to calculate your Supply Services charge will be a Sutton Power Choice price instead of their own Basic Service price.

See an example National Grid bill.

Everything else will remain the same. You will continue to receive your bill from National Grid, pay National Grid, and call National Grid when your power goes out.

Sutton Power Choice prices are fixed until January 2024 under the current contract and January 2026 under the new contract. Having a stable price for the Supply Services portion of your electric bill can protect you from the seasonal price increases that occur when you have National Grid’s Basic Service. When National Grid is your electricity supplier and you have their Basic Service, the price they use to calculate the Supply Services charge on your bill changes seasonally.

Having a stable price can also provide a predictable alternative to the variable prices offered by some commercial electricity supply offers that provide a stable price for a few months, but then the price will vary monthly.

Check your most recent electric bill. If you are enrolled in Sutton Power Choice, your electricity supplier will be listed as Constellation.

To check which program option you are enrolled in, look at the price that is used to calculate the Supply Services charge on your bill. Compare it to the Sutton Power Choice prices. Remember that your bill presents your supply price in dollars per kWh, while most other resources, including the National Grid website and this website, will typically provide your program price in cents per kWh.

All metered electricity customers within the geographic boundaries of Sutton are eligible to participate. All new National Grid Basic Service customers in Sutton will be eligible for automatic enrollment within a few months of opening their electricity account. Before being automatically enrolled, you will receive a notice by mail from the Town with program details, including how to opt out if you do not wish to participate.

Important note: For any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

Yes. If you have already signed a contract with an electricity supplier, you will not be eligible for automatic enrollment in the program, but you are invited to participate.

We recommend that you first check the terms of your existing electricity supply contract. Many include minimum enrollment periods and early termination fees.

Learn more about enrolling.

Important note: For any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

You may choose not to participate, and you may leave the program after you participate. This is called opting out.

There is no penalty for opting out. You may do so at any time.

If you opt out, you will be placed on National Grid’s Basic Service.

You may opt out at any time online or by contacting customer support.

You may use the online form or contact customer support to change from one program option to another. You may change program options at any time.

If you open a new National Grid electricity account in Sutton, you do not need to do anything to participate in Sutton Power Choice. All National Grid Basic Service customers will be eligible for automatic enrollment in the program within a few months of opening their account. Before being automatically enrolled, you will receive a notice in the mail from the Town with program details, including how to opt out of the program before enrollment if you do not wish to participate.

If you have an existing electricity account and wish to enroll in the program, you may enroll online or by contacting customer support with Sutton’s program consultants.

Important note: For any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

Yes, however, for any customer who previously opted out of, or left, the program and wishes to re-enroll, the program’s electricity supplier is entitled to charge a market price instead of the program price for the remainder of the current electricity supply contract. If the program’s electricity supplier decides to charge market pricing, you will be notified before enrollment and can decide then whether to continue with enrollment or not.

No. You will continue to receive budget billing as a participant in Sutton Power Choice.

No. You will continue to receive your low-income discount or fuel assistance as a participant in Sutton Power Choice.

An electric utility like National Grid is responsible primarily for delivering electricity to you, for maintaining the poles and wires, and for addressing power outages. Your utility charges you for these services on the Delivery Services portion of your electric bill.

An electricity supplier is a company that buys electricity for you from electricity generators or from electricity brokers. An electricity supplier can be a utility like National Grid, or it can be a third-party company. If your supplier is a third-party company, it does not replace National Grid as your electric utility.

• When your utility is also your electricity supplier (i.e., when you have National Grid’s Basic Service), your electric bill will indicate that is the case with the words “basic service.”
• You may also choose your own electricity supplier. If you do, the name of that company will appear on your electric bill as your electricity supplier, and the price you negotiated with them will be used to calculate the Supply Services charge on your bill.
• With Sutton Power Choice, the Town of Sutton chooses an electricity supplier on your behalf. Sutton has signed a contract with Constellation to supply electricity to the Town. Constellation will appear on your electric bill as your electricity supplier, and National Grid will use a Sutton Power Choice price to calculate the Supply Services charge on your bill.

No. The quality of service to you will be unaffected by your participation in Sutton Power Choice. The reason is because National Grid does not profit from the Supply Services charge on your electric bill. They pass those charges along to you with no markup. They make their profit from the Delivery Services charges. As a result, they have no preference whether they choose your supplier or Sutton does.

The minimum amount increases every year. For 2023, Massachusetts state law requires that renewable electricity must be purchased from new renewable energy projects in the New England region to match 22% of your electricity use.

In addition, state law requires the purchase of a minimum amount of renewable energy from older renewable energy projects in the New England region, as well as from some other energy sources that are considered highly efficient but not renewable.

For more information, visit the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources page on compliance information for the Renewable Portfolio Standard.

When you choose the Power Choice Green option, 100% of your electricity will be generated by renewable resources, including an additional 20% from new energy projects in the New England region above the amount required by the state.

Generating electricity using renewable energy sources like the sun and the wind does not create air pollution, and it does not emit the gases that cause climate change.

Purchasing more renewable electricity from new energy projects in the New England region above the state-required minimum helps to drive the development of new renewable energy projects in our region. It also supports the local jobs that go with those projects.