The cost of our electricity is broken into two separate and distinct parts, supplier charges (around 15 cents) plus delivery charges (around 10 cents) costing us 25 cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity we use. NStar delivers electricity from the Cape Light Compact (CLC), the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative (CVEC), and Viridian, three of the many electricity suppliers in Massachusetts.

On Jan. 29, Vineyard Power Cooperative (VP) along with its partner OffshoreMV, bid on and won a lease to develop offshore wind-generated electricity in the federal waters 14 miles south of the Vineyard. VP’s portion is five megawatts. Within two or three years NStar will also be delivering this electricity to its customers.

By the end of 2014, CVEC successfully installed 28 megawatts of clean solar generated electricity for many towns on Cape Cod and the Vineyard. One of those towns, Tisbury, locked in a supply rate of 9.13 cents per kilowatt-hour for its electricity for 20 years.

The way the law currently reads, CVEC can only supply electricity to towns and municipalities, not individuals.

Unlike the spike in my supplier charge to a little over 15 cents per kilowatt hour caused by an increased cost of natural gas, Tisbury’s supply charge will never go up due to an increase in the cost of the fuel.

Massachusetts has over 7,000 megawatts of installed fossil-generated electricity.

CVEC’s current 18 megawatts supplied to its member towns/municipalities, and VP’s future five megawatts for supply to its individual members on Martha’s Vineyard is a drop in the bucket needed to replace Massachusetts’s 7,000 megawatts of installed fossil fuel.

Massachusetts private companies have not stepped up to the plate in developing large solar or wind projects. It appears they are leaving this challenge up to cooperatives. Others in the state should be allowed to expeditiously form cooperatives and produce as much unencumbered clean electricity as possible and not be delayed in getting their electricity interconnected to the grid.

The best way to accomplish this is with revised legislation.

Make your voice heard by contacting Sen. Dan Wolf (daniel.wolf@masssenate.gov, 617-722-1570) and Rep. Timothy Madden (Timothy.Madden@masshouse.gov, 617-722-2810).

Peter Cabana
Vineyard Haven