CHESTER — An article on the warrant for the Oct. 7 Special Town Meeting asks voters to authorize the sale of the town’s electric utility to Eversource.
But there’s no official offer from Eversource to purchase the Chester Municipal Electric Light Department. The warrant article isn’t being requested by the Electric Light Commission, the Select Board or any official town committee. It’s a petition signed by 230 Chester registered voters — and a “no” vote appears to be the goal.
“The petition was to hold the vote — it was a people’s petition with enough numbers. The vote will take place even though there is not an offer to purchase at this point,” said Town Administrator Donald Humason Jr. He said if the vote does not pass — and it would require a two-thirds majority to do so — “it will kill the discussion for two years.”
Humason said town officials expect the vote to fail, based in part on the number of lawn signs in town. He said he’s seen zero signs supporting the sale, and many that support the town retaining ownership of CMELD.
The only other article on the Oct. 7 warrant is approval of some prior-year bills. The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. in the Chester Elementary School gymnasium, 325 Middlefield Rd. If the Town Meeting participants vote “no” on the sale, the matter cannot be raised again in the next two years. If they vote “yes,” a second affirmative vote at a separate Town Meeting would also be required for the sale to be approved. Voters also have the option of taking no action.
“I’ll be happy when this goes away on Oct. 7. It’s been extremely divisive,” Humason said on Sept. 27, adding, “This has been a big spike driven in between people.”
Humason said although Eversource had previously proposed the purchase of CMELD, the utility was waiting for an audit from CMELD before making an offer. He said the audit was done but has not been released. At the Select Board meeting on Sept. 23, CMELD officials said the audit was not yet available.
“Eversource was waiting for the results of the audit from CMELD. They were in no position to make a new offer based on the numbers,” Humason said.
A group of people supporting CMELD collected signatures to call the Special Town Meeting. The signatures were certified on Aug. 27. Only 200 signatures are required to call a meeting,
Selling the electric utility was first proposed in 2023, when an Energy Committee chaired by Andy Myers was formed by a Town Meeting vote in June 2023 to look at the rising costs of energy and ways that the town could shift to renewable energy.
At a meeting in April 2024, Myers said the state has mandating that utilities must procure a certain percentage of their electricity from clean energy sources, beginning at 16% in 2018, and increasing by 2 percentage points annually to reach 50% in 2030. He said clean energy is more expensive, and costs are expected to continue to rise.
Myers said with Eversource, residents would have an option to connect to an alternative energy supplier. The company offers incentives for solar energy, and rebates for qualifying energy efficient equipment through MassSave for items such as heat pumps, smart thermostats and whole energy audits. The town could also choose to participate in a municipal aggregation program with a competing energy supplier, as Huntington currently does. Individual can opt in or out of the aggregation group-purchasing program.
CMELD representatives talked about potential investments in solar expansion, residential solar incentives, wind power and battery storage technology. The town received $130,000 in Green Communities funds and spent $88,000 on solar panels on the town garage and fire station that are saving 25% to 30% in electricity costs on those buildings, among other energy-saving work. The municipal utility’s power supply is currently 33% from non-emitting sources, thanks in part to its participation in Energy New England’s Broadleaf Solar and Great River Hydro projects, according to information posted on the town website.
Myers said at the April meeting that CMELD’s rates at 23 cents per kilowatt-hour are lower than those of Eversource, but not as low as most municipally owned departments, due to its smaller size and lack of economies of scale. According to the CMELD presentation, its power supply costs are half of Eversource’s, and its rates are historically 20% to 40% lower.
Myers said at the time the objective of the Energy Committee is to present options.
“It’s all about education,” he said, declining when asked to give his personal recommendation as to which way the town should vote.
An initial offer by Eversource of $203,000 for the CMELD infrastructure was also mentioned at the April meeting, although not by Eversource representatives nor by town officials. Select Board Chair John Baldasaro said that the next steps would be to have a legitimate proposal by Eversource on the table, followed by more public meetings. At the end of the April meeting, Baldasaro urged residents to do some research and inform themselves.
“This is one of the biggest decisions Chester has made,” he said, adding that he would also not be giving his opinion as to which way the town should vote.
