Town hears stark update on aggregation pricing; residents can opt out as rates rise

Town staff and consultants from Good Energy briefed the Portsmouth Town Council on an updated pricing outlook for the community electricity aggregation program and options for participants after a series of market disruptions.

Stefano Loredo, a consultant, said the region'wide day-ahead services initiative known as "Daisy" has driven costs well above earlier estimates: "the costs have roughly been about 650% higher than that pro forma" and he said a single storm month in January reached far higher values. He explained that Daisy was designed to enhance grid resiliency but has produced much larger-than-expected short-term charges.

Good Energy said the aggregation has nevertheless saved participating Portsmouth accounts about $500,000 since launch, roughly $72 per average residential customer, and that opt-out is available at any time with no penalty. The consultants advised the council to postpone executing an extension of the town's supplier contract until 2027 to allow the market and Rhode Island Energy's reconciliation mechanism to reflect Daisy's effects.

Councilors urged staff to encourage residents to opt out if they want to avoid higher aggregation pricing this summer and discussed drafting a resolution asking FERC to reconsider the Daisy mechanism; staff said terminating the program immediately would require unwinding contracts and could not be implemented before May 2027. "Energy contracts are notoriously difficult to unwind," Good Energy warned, noting contract termination risks and mark-to-market penalties.

Staff pledged to publish clear instructions on the program website and town channels describing opt-out and enrollment options, and to provide a template resolution about Daisy for council consideration.