Council Approves Energy Talks; Could Include Covanta Waste

Purchasing Agent and Energy Manager Orlando Pacheco and Mayor James J. Fiorentini.

Another hurdle is cleared for the City of Haverhill’s plans to negotiate lower electricity supply rates for residents through pooling of local customers, also known as an energy aggregation.

Haverhill city councilors voted 8 to 0 Tuesday night to approve a “Community Choice Power Supply Plan” prepared for the city by consultant Colonial Power Group, Marlborough.

Purchasing Agent and Energy Manager Orlando Pacheco called the plan “a tool the mayor is looking to provide the city with” in hopes of using market conditions and flexibility in suppliers to secure a lower electricity supply rate portion of local electric bills.

“Your adoption tonight will allow us to move forward through the next two regulatory processes, which are with the DOER (Department of Energy Resources) and the Department of Public Utilities. And then we’ll begin our public education phase after that. But it could take up to a year before we’re ready to do anything. We’re not going to rush it, we want to make sure the residents are as well-informed as they can be, because there will be an opt-out period and we want to make sure they’re well aware of that in case this is not something they want to participate in, before we move forward,” Pacheco said.

Pacheco added the city’s options for power supplier could include direct negotiations with a power plant, including the Covanta waste-to-energy facility in Ward Hill.

“The city is a host community to Covanta. I’m sure there are some back and forth that can be exchanged there. They’re essentially taking the city’s solid waste and burning it and then dumping it into the grid. Perhaps we can find a more financially beneficial arrangement for both parties,” Pacheco said.

Councilor William Macek was absent. Councilor John A. Michitson participated by telephone, under an earlier authorization by state legislators.