News Briefs: Last Mile grants for Alford, Otis; Egremont Community Choice Power Supply program; GB Democratic Town Committee meeting

MBI approves Last Mile grants for Alford, Otis, Warwick

Westborough — The Baker-Polito administration Tuesday announced a total of $1.9 million in grant funds for the towns of Alford, Otis and Warwick to finance the construction of high-speed Internet networks in the three unserved Last Mile towns. The grant funding, approved by the board of directors of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute at MassTech (MBI), is part of the administration’s continued commitment to ensuring broadband access to more than 40 Last Mile towns in Massachusetts unserved by broadband Internet access.

The MBI will allocate $288,775 in grant funding to Alford and $1,145,975 to Otis. The two municipalities will pursue their Last Mile projects independently, overseeing the design, construction and operation of fiber-to-the-home networks. Each town’s fiber network will pass every residence and business located on a public right of way.

Both Alford and Otis have completed the MBI’s Last Mile Readiness Process, an effort launched in May to jumpstart efforts to close the broadband gap in 44 remaining unserved towns. Each municipality has achieved several key milestones including voter approval of municipal financing for the town’s share of project costs and the endorsement of the Massachusetts Division of Local Services on the municipal financing plan. Municipalities have also begun the initial construction process.

The MBI board also approved a grant of $450,000 to the town of Warwick to support the upgrade of a legacy, town-owned wireless network. Warwick will oversee the design, construction and operation of the network upgrade. The total construction estimate for the project is $690,000, of which $450,000 will be paid for through the town’s construction allocation under the Last Mile program, with the remaining $240,000 financed by the town of Warwick.

The legacy components of the existing Warwick wireless network were supported by a previous grant from the MBI in 2011. The town intends to make substantial equipment upgrades to its existing wireless systems, moving to implement next generation wireless technologies across several spectrums, including fourth generation (4G) and Long Term Evolution (LTE).  The combination of wireless technologies being implemented will ensure coverage for all town residents and provide broadband-level speeds.

The awards will go for final approval at the next meeting of the executive committee of the MassTech board of directors.

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Egremont Community Choice Power Supply program

Egremont — Egremont residents and business owners will achieve approximately $9,500 in savings in the first half of 2017 thanks to the newly created Egremont Community Choice Power Supply program.

The town of Egremont and Colonial Power Group Inc. have entered into a six-month agreement to bring significant energy cost savings to the town’s residents and small businesses through the program, which will support renewable energy as 100 percent of the power supply is offset with Renewable Energy Certificates.

The new program will help more than 600 households and small business owners achieve stability and savings on electricity costs. Participating residents and businesses in Egremont will see a savings of about 7 percent in their monthly energy bills and the program will provide a combined savings of nearly $1,575 per month for the town’s homes and businesses.

Under the program, residents will not notice any change in their electricity service. The only discernable difference will be that Hampshire Power of Northampton, the selected electricity supplier for the program, will be printed under the “Supply Services” heading on monthly bills. Residents and small business owners will continue to receive one bill from National Grid and to send payments to National Grid for processing. There will be no interruption in billing, power or customer service.

Colonial Power Group is the leading aggregation consulting firm in Massachusetts. Municipal electricity aggregation allows cities and towns to pool the electrical consumption of all ratepayers in their jurisdictions and competitively procure lower cost electricity supply on behalf of the participants. The aggregation allows the municipality to obtain better pricing than individual residents and business owners could due to economies of scale. Colonial Power works with state officials, utility executives, and energy industry leaders to facilitate the purchase of electricity at a rate lower than basic service rates. Since July 2013, Colonial Power has saved households and businesses across New England a total of nearly $11 million on their electric bills.

The cost savings for Egremont residents and businesses will begin with the January 2017 meter reads (February 2017 billings). No action is required by ratepayers to participate in the program, which will be operated on an opt-out basis, meaning that all Egremont residential and business customers currently on National Grid’s basic service will be automatically enrolled into the program unless they choose to opt out.

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Great Barrington Democratic Town Committee meeting

Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Town Democratic Committee will meet Saturday, Dec. 10, at 9:30 a.m. at the Claire Teague Senior Center. The principal items on the agenda include stocktaking of the local, state and national election results and program planning for 2017. The Senior Center is handicapped accessible. For more information, contact Great Barrington Town Democratic Committee Chair Michael Wise at (413) 854-1323.