There has been plenty of discussion at multiple levels of government and among ordinary commoners about the subject of energy. Also, there’s an abundance of subject material on the internet, but amid all that chatter, I ran into this WMUR short video discussing Community Power(CP), something I’ve written about before. After watching it, I noticed 15 towns where it’s unfolding and hasn’t yet “gone live” and 3 counties that have “county options.”
The following 6 towns are recognized as “planning” for Community Power. If you, the reader, live in one of them, it’s early in the process, and you have more opportunity to sound the alarm and educate your neighbors.
- Conway
- Cornish
- Hollis
- Langdon
- Shelburne
- Springfield
The following 9 communities are further along in the process, but if you’re a local, you might still have an opportunity to apply the brakes.
- Bedford
- Berlin
- Bristol
- Canaan
- Dalton
- Meredith
- Newington
- Northumberland
- Sunapee
Whether or not you reside anywhere on the above 2 lists, there are 3 counties that supposedly have “county options.” If you live in one of the following, it’s a good idea to pay attention and perhaps reach out to your county commissioners.
- Cheshire
- Merrimack
- Sullivan
It’s not breaking news that lots of people were done wrong by Community Power, which Nashua’s mayor so aggressively promoted in the summer of 2023 while preparing his campaign for reelection. I opted out, but here’s the thing. It was a passive enrollment, and the opportunity to opt out was cleverly presented in a mailer that was easily mistaken for junk mail, with an action deadline just a few weeks later. How many people were on vacation, in the hospital, out of town for business or other reasons, discarded it as perceived junk mail, or didn’t receive one?
We’ll never know, but the mayor got to boast the enrollment numbers on the campaign trail. Loudon is already a CP town, but I remember Nurse Terese venting about town meeting in 2024. Selectmen were aggressively pushing for a warrant article making it opt-out, and the rumor was that someone with ties to Senate Energy vice chair Howard Pearl was the mastermind behind that push. I tried digging for the receipts by asking a few locals and came up empty-handed, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. As the saying goes, you must choose your battles, and that ship has already sailed, but it doesn’t mean Loudon locals can’t look into that.
People aren’t thinking about warrant articles in June. They’re thinking about Father’s Day, motorcycle events, Porcfest, and graduations. Pay attention to the agendas of your local selectmen because CP items might or might not be included. What about the NRPC and its 8 counterparts? Remember they’re unelected bodies that control the distribution of HUD money and don’t have to answer to We the People. Are they involved? Maybe or maybe not.
Regarding those county options, I want to learn more about what they mean, so I sent an email to David Lovlien, my county commissioner, with some questions and am awaiting his response. Seeing that he has a history of good efforts to keep his constituents informed about county matters, I’m sure he has something to say or will point me to a more appropriate person, board, committee, or commission. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, it appears that CP is on a damage control mission. As Rep Lori Korzen of one of those above-listed communities (Berlin) often asks at the end of her very popular short videos, “agree or disagree?”
