Utility In Reading, Mass., Expands Renewable Choice Program To C&I Customers

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
April 13, 2022

The Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) in Massachusetts recently expanded its Renewable Choice program to commercial and industrial customers.

RMLD launched the opt-in program in February, making it available to residential customers and allowing them to support additional renewable energy resources above and beyond the public power utility’s annual non-carbon energy targets.

Funds contributed to the Renewable Choice program are used to retire New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) Generation Information System (GIS) compliant renewable certificates, starting with Mass Class 1 certificates.

The certificate retirements under the Renewable Choice program are in addition to RMLD’s compliance retirements of 26 percent in 2022, which increase 3 percent each year so as to reach 100 percent, i.e., net zero by 2050.

Customers in the program, which now includes commercial and industrial customers, can choose to contribute at one of three levels to bring their monthly electricity usage to 50 percent, 75 percent, or 100 percent renewable/non-carbon. RMLD will base the Renewable Choice charge on the participating customer’s monthly kilowatt hour (kWh) usage, which will appear as a line item on the customer’s monthly electric bill.

The expansion of the Renewable Choice program will enable commercial and industrial customers to achieve sustainability goals that are often established in corporate mission statements and supply chain reporting, RMLD said.

Participation in the Renewable Choice program requires a one-year commitment and that a customer is current with their bill.

Additional information about the Renewable Choice program is available at https://www.rmld.com/home/pages/renewable-choice where customers also can find a calculator that allows them to input their monthly kWh usage to calculate their monthly

Renewable Choice charge for any of the three participation levels.

RMLD serves over 70,000 residents in the towns of Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, and Lynnfield Center and has over 30,000 meter connections in its service territory.