Electricity FAQs
What is a Local Distribution Company?
A Local Distribution Company (LDC) is the regulated utility company that is responsible for delivery of electricity and customer service related to getting electricity to your facility. The LDC is responsible for metering, owning and maintaining the transmission and distribution wires and facilities and assuring the continued flow of electricity to each site. LDCs are what you commonly think of as your electric company ? NStar (BECO, COMElectric, Cambridge Electric), National GRID (Mass. Electric), Northeast Utilities (Western Mass Electric Co.), and Unitil (Fitchburg Gas &Electric) etc.
What are the components of my electric bill?
Your bill consists of two major components: supply service (the actual electricity), and delivery service. Delivery is comprised of three elements: transmission (moving electricity from generators across the region?s high tension wires); distribution (delivering electricity from the regional grid across local wires to your meter) and transition or access (stranded costs ? costs previously incurred by the LDC that as a result of deregulation would not be recovered and are now approved to be charged to customers directly). PowerOptions contracts and savings apply only to the supply portion (usually 30-50%) of your bill. Your LDC provides the remaining items and those rates are reviewed by the Department of Telecommunications and Energy.
Explain Massachusetts "Basic Rates"?
Basic electric supply service is provided by your LDC and is available to customers who are not enrolled in a competitive supply contract. Basic rates will apply to new accounts, and accounts that have been switched from competitive supply contract back to their LDC. LDCs acquire Basic Service supply for customers for six month periods; those costs should reflect market conditions. It is expected over time that the competitive market will provide less expensive supply than Basic Service for most customers.
What is the nature of the PowerOptions relationship with its suppliers?
The Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority (HEFA), through its wholly owned non-profit affiliate, PowerOptions Inc., sponsors the PowerOptions energy group purchasing consortium. PowerOptions Inc. administers the consortium and has negotiated master agreements with energy suppliers to provide Members? access to electricity and natural gas supply and services at agreed upon prices and favorable contract terms. These supply contracts have won universal praise for consumer friendly terms which include a Parental Guarantee. In addition, suppliers agree that PowerOptions will monitor their performance under the contract, and where appropriate, pursue members' interests in issues arising out of the relationship. Institutions must be a Member of PowerOptions and in good standing to be eligible for any supply contract.
What savings can be expected as a result of the PowerOptions contracts?
Over the first eight years of the PowerOptions contracts, members have saved over $200 million. Under currently available contracts, savings depend on the usage characteristics of accounts and market conditions at the time of contracting.
Who will read my meter?
Regardless of who supplies the electricity, meters will continue to be read by your LDC.
Who do I call if I should have a power outage?
Your LDC is still responsible for transmission and distribution of your electric power supply, so you should continue to call them for restoration of power regardless of the electricity supplier.
Whom do I call for billing problems?
Generally, PowerOptions members have elected to have suppliers include their charges on bills issued by the LDC; questions concerning these bills should be referred to your LDC. The LDC is responsible for forwarding to the supplier the amounts you pay for the supply portion (although rules specific to Mass. dictate the order in which receipts are handled).
If the Member has elected to have Direct Energy issue a separate bill for electricity supply, questions should be referred to them for that portion of the bill. Billing problems under both arrangements have been common in the early stages of deregulation and the PowerOptions staff is ready to help any Member who is having difficulty clarifying a billing situation.
It is essential that bills be paid on time and in full to avoid complications in the LDC's handling of funds destined for the supplier.
When can I enroll in the contract and when does it end?
Members in good standing can enroll in our contract at any time, up to six months prior to the end of the contract term (currently ending in May 2015). Members may obtain pricing for periods as short as 6 months or for periods all the way through to May 2015.
How can I obtain pricing for my electric accounts?
Members with Interval Accounts (large usage accounts with meters read hourly) should contact their assigned Direct Energy account representative for pricing. If there is no account data on file, the member must sign a load data release form so that Direct Energy may obtain your usage data from your LDC. Members with only non-interval accounts (accounts with monthly meter reads) can contact their assigned Direct Energy account representative or the PowerOptions office for pricing. If you do not know which Direct Energy account representative is assigned to your organization, please contact Wendy O'Malley at PowerOptions at 617-737-8480 or womalley@poweroptions.org.
