The Cape Light Compact (“CLC”) is a regional energy services organization made up of all 21 towns on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard and Barnstable and Dukes counties.  The purpose of the Compact is to represent and protect consumer interests in a restructured utility industry.  As authorized by each town, the Compact operates the regional energy efficiency program and works with the combined buying power of the region's electric consumers to negotiate for economical electricity and other public benefits. 

ConEdison Solutions (“CES”) is an energy services company that provides cost-effective energy solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, and government customers.  ConEdison Solutions also provides electricity to business and residential customers.  The company is based in White Plains, New York, with offices in Burlington, MA, Cherry Hill, NJ, and Arlington, VA.  Founded in 1997, ConEdison Solutions is a subsidiary and registered trademark of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with $12 billion in annual revenues and $25 billion in assets.

ConEdison Solutions is working in partnership with the Cape Light Compact to continue to offer a competitive, stable, price for energy supply to customers on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

The Cape Light Compact selected ConEdison Solutions as its energy supplier because of the company’s stable pricing and its reputation as one of the most reliable energy services companies in the U.S. 

In addition, ConEdison Solutions provides customers an option to participate in Cape Light Compact Greensm and has worked with the Compact to support renewable energy through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECS).

ConEdison Solutions can be reached during normal business hours by calling 1-800-381-9192.  A customer service representative will provide additional information about your service. Customers can also write to ConEdison Solutions’ headquarters at 701 Westchester Avenue, Suite 300E, White Plains, NY 10506 or email them at webinfo@ConEdSolutions.com.

Customers should stay with the Compact because of its comprehensive approach to energy services – power supply, energy efficiency programs, and consumer advocacy.  The Compact is a public entity and its core mission is to serve the public interest.  In the long run, customers are overall better served by a grassroots public entity than by a company with a profit motive. 

Additionally, the Compact’s power supply is greener than NSTAR’s because we are complying with the Renewable Portfolio Standard.  We also provide consumers a choice to further green-up their power under our current Cape Light Compact Greensm program.

Finally, having a viable power supply program enables the Compact to administer the $5 million in energy efficiency funds and keep these funds on the Cape and Vineyard in the form of energy efficiency services.

Effective with the January 2008 meter reads, the competitive price that ConEdison Solutions will provide to the Cape Light Compact is:

11.100 cents per kWh for residential customers;

11.450 cents per kWh for small and commercial industrial customers; and

11.685 cents per kWh for large commercial and industrial customers. (This rate applies to the January 2008 through April 2008 meter read dates).

CES and CLC have committed to a strategy of monitoring prices in the market and purchasing energy when prices are favorable. This helps us avoid buying energy at times when prices are very high. This strategy takes advantage of the best the competitive marketplace has to offer and reflects our commitment to offering the lowest price possible for our customers.

Over the past year the Cape Light Compact held negotiation discussions with six competitive electric suppliers regarding power supply pricing for 2007 and beyond. The Compact elected to stay with ConEdison Solutions as it’s energy supplier because the compact accepted the contract terms and conditions required by the Compact, and the other suppliers would not. In addition, ConEdison Solutions offers fixed, stable pricing and is well-regarded as one of the most reliable energy services companies in the U.S.

New prices take effect with January 2008 meter readings and will be reflected in February bills.

In a word, yes. But there are limitations.

A customer who leaves the Cape Light Compact power supply program and goes to NSTAR’s default service or to another competitive supplier, may return to the Compact’s supply at a later date, but acceptance of the customer back into the Compact’s power supply program is at the discretion of the Compact’s supplier. 

Here’s why.

When a supplier contracts for its energy supply, it does so for a specific amount of load (kWh usage) which it anticipates it will be serving.  When customers leave and go to NSTAR’s default service or to another competitive supplier, their usage and the usage of other customers who have left no longer need to be served by the supplier. 

This puts the supplier in the position of having excess energy.  Because of risks associated with having excess energy, the supplier will sell this excess energy into the marketplace.  When customers return, the supplier no longer has the energy on hand to serve the kWh usage the customers require.  The supplier then needs to decide whether or not they will enter the marketplace to purchase the energy necessary to serve these customers. 

Also, note that prices for energy in the marketplace at the time the customer returns could be higher or lower than the contract rate currently in effect for the existing customers.

The first step is to participate, if you have not already done so, in the home energy audit program offered by the Cape Light Compact.  Please call 800-797-6699 to schedule this free home energy assessment that will identify immediate and recommended energy saving measures that can be installed by quality installers to reduce the energy use in your home.  We will install energy efficient light bulbs and generous rebates are available for up to $1500 to improve the energy efficiency and overall comfort of your home through air sealing and insulation measures.  We also offer rebates on high efficiency heating and hot water systems and Energy Star® qualified windows.  For more information about this program please visit http://www.capelight-compact.org/home_energy_audit.html

The second step is to follow the Commonwealth Solar program procedures, as all Cape Light Compact customers (all electric customers in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard Towns) are eligible to participate in the Commonwealth Solar rebate program, that include estimating the rebate level you may be eligible for and obtaining some quotes from installers.  We have found many local installers will offer to manage the rebate and the interconnection process for their customers as part of the system installation work.  The Commonwealth Solar website provides helpful information on selecting an installer who can provide you with a site and financial assessment and includes some links to renewable energy system installers listed through the Solar Energy Association of New England (SEBANE), FindSolar.com and the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) Directory.