A petition article on this year’s Rindge warrant asks residents to join a community power program, designed to leverage buying power to get residents a better deal on electricity.

The petition was submitted by Patricia Martin, a member of the town’s Energy Commission. The town Select Board considered community power earlier this year, forming a Community Power Committee, but ultimately decided not to put forth an article after the committee held a split vote on whether or not to recommend the article.

The committee was split 4-3 on the issue, with the majority in favor.

Community power allows municipalities to purchase power in bulk for residents, with the intent of negotiating lower rates and the potential for more energy from renewable sources. Typically, community power agreements only address the source of they energy, with Eversource continuing to maintain the power lines and bill customers.

The petition article would direct the town to enroll in the Cheshire Community Power program. The program includes multiple towns in the county, including Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Nelson, Roxbury, Chesterfield, Winchester, Gilsum, Troy and Hinsdale. If passed, any resident currently enrolled in the Eversource default electricity model would be enrolled in the community power program, unless they elected to opt out of the process. A notice would be sent to residents before the program launched, with information about how to opt out.

Any resident already enrolled in a third-party agreement for power would not be affected.

The current Cheshire Community Power supply rates, which are in place through the end of this month, are currently 8.9 cents per kilowatt hour for the default option. Other options provide more energy sourced from renewables, with the most-expensive option being 12 cents per kilowatt hour for 100% renewable sources. The cheapest, which provides only the state required renewable sources, is 8.6 cents per kilowatt hour.

The current Eversource default rate is 10.4 cents per kilowatt hour. Both Eversource and Cheshire Community Power are anticipated to adjust their rates as of Feb. 1.

One of the major stumbling points for those on the Community Power Committee who voted against adopting community power was that most communities use an “opt out” model, where people are automatically enrolled unless they opt out of the process.

Martin said that currently, anyone can purchase power from a third-party supplier, but few do. She said the way community power works is to have a large amount of buying power through a significant number of customers. “Opt-in” programs don’t generate enough signups for that to work, even when rates under community power are better, she said.

“You don’t get the mass of people you need to get the bargaining power to get the lowest rates,” Martin said.

A separate petition article, also submitted by Martin, aims to protect Rindge’s lakes from road salt. The article asks the town to implement a salt-reduction plan for its roads, following state guidelines. The article calls for the town to track and document a salt reduction program, and become an active participant in the state’s Municipal Green SnowPro Program.

Martin said a number of things are affecting New Hampshire waterways, including fertilizer, unmanaged septic and salt from road deicing.

“All these things are affecting our lakes,” Martin said. “And you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”

Both articles will be on the warrant for voter consideration in March. Both require a majority vote to pass.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.