]The Peterborough Community Power Committee has announced that electricity rates for residents and small businesses who buy electricity from Peterborough Community Power will see their rates drop more than 25% in February.

The new rates will be in effect from February through July, and the drop is the second since PCP launched in spring of 2023.

The default rate, Granite Plus, will be 8.4 cents/kWh, compared to the current rate of 11.3 cents /kWh. Most of the approximately 3,000 Peterborough families obtaining electricity from PCP are on the default rate.

Granite Basic, with 24.3%  renewable energy, will  be 8.1 cents/kWh. Clean 50, with 50% percent renewables, will be 9.4 cents/kWh. Clean 100, with 100% renewables, will be 12.4 cents/kWh.

The Peterborough Community Power Committee kept Granite Plus as the default rate because it has 36% more renewable content than Eversource and is within 0.11 cents/kWh of the new Eversource rate. For a typical home using 650 kWh of electricity per month, the difference is 72 cents per month.

The Granite Basic rate is lower than the new Eversource rate of 8.29 cents/kWh, according to the  Peterborough Community Power Committee, and has the same percentage of renewable content (24.3%) as Eversource. Anyone currently enrolled on the PCP default rate can opt down to Granite Basic if they prefer the savings of 0.3 cents/kWh ($1.95 per month a 650 kWh/month) rather than the additional renewable content.

Any Peterborough resident or business wishing to change their rate option, or to opt into or out of PCP, may do so at any time by calling 866-603-POWR (866-603- 7697), or by visiting communitypowernh.gov/peterborough. If possible, they should have their account number (printed on their electric bill) available.

Peterborough Community Power is part of the statewide Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH), a nonprofit power agency established by New Hampshire cities and towns. All administration and electricity procurement for PCP is managed through CPCNH.