Home 
About MMA MunEnergy Billerica leads way with load response program
Load response programs, one of the innovative energy solutions to emerge in the competitive electricity market, are designed to benefit participants while furthering the reliability of the electric grid.
Customers who sign on are committed to reducing their power consumption (with a minimum of 100 kilowatts) during the hours of severe system stress. Participants, who are notified in advance of an event, are paid on an ongoing basis based on how much electricity they have available to curtail during an electric system emergency. The reduced stress on the electricity grid at peak times helps to avert brownouts that could affect all customers.
Billerica signed on to a load response program “primarily because of the financial incentives,” says Town Manager Rocco Longo, but an added benefit is that the town now has a reason to run its emergency electric generators at times, which means they are kept in working order. (The town recently had a near-disaster because its generators weren’t able to run the water treatment plant during an outage.) The town now makes it a practice to run its emergency generators on a regular basis.
“Being paid to run the generators is even better,” Longo says.
Billerica began the program on Sept. 1, committing to curtail 625 kilowatts during emergency events. The water treatment facility then signed on to curtail an additional 750 kilowatts.
For Billerica, this can be done without shutting anything down.
“The generators can go for days,” Longo explains, “but they are only running for a few hours at a time through this program.”
As with cities and towns across the state, the overarching energy challenge facing Billerica is keeping up with its financial demands. The town sees hope in the load response program. There are already plans to take the money earned through the program and put it in a fund for conservation, maintaining generators, and fuel.
Longo says conservation is an important aspect of the program.
“If we can be exemplary in this, then we can promote conservation throughout [Massachusetts] communities,” he says. “It’s a great program, and now I can’t wait to see what the impact is going to be because it all seems so positive.”
Constellation NewEnergy, the endorsed supplier for the MMA’s MunEnergy program, offers load response and worked on Billerica’s installation on the two separate sites.
For more information, contact MunEnergy Program Manager Emily Neill at (617) 772-7513 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
About MMA MunEnergy Billerica leads way with load response program
Billerica leads way with load response program
Load response programs, one of the innovative energy solutions to emerge in the competitive electricity market, are designed to benefit participants while furthering the reliability of the electric grid.
Customers who sign on are committed to reducing their power consumption (with a minimum of 100 kilowatts) during the hours of severe system stress. Participants, who are notified in advance of an event, are paid on an ongoing basis based on how much electricity they have available to curtail during an electric system emergency. The reduced stress on the electricity grid at peak times helps to avert brownouts that could affect all customers.
Billerica signed on to a load response program “primarily because of the financial incentives,” says Town Manager Rocco Longo, but an added benefit is that the town now has a reason to run its emergency electric generators at times, which means they are kept in working order. (The town recently had a near-disaster because its generators weren’t able to run the water treatment plant during an outage.) The town now makes it a practice to run its emergency generators on a regular basis.
“Being paid to run the generators is even better,” Longo says.
Billerica began the program on Sept. 1, committing to curtail 625 kilowatts during emergency events. The water treatment facility then signed on to curtail an additional 750 kilowatts.
For Billerica, this can be done without shutting anything down.
“The generators can go for days,” Longo explains, “but they are only running for a few hours at a time through this program.”
As with cities and towns across the state, the overarching energy challenge facing Billerica is keeping up with its financial demands. The town sees hope in the load response program. There are already plans to take the money earned through the program and put it in a fund for conservation, maintaining generators, and fuel.
Longo says conservation is an important aspect of the program.
“If we can be exemplary in this, then we can promote conservation throughout [Massachusetts] communities,” he says. “It’s a great program, and now I can’t wait to see what the impact is going to be because it all seems so positive.”
Constellation NewEnergy, the endorsed supplier for the MMA’s MunEnergy program, offers load response and worked on Billerica’s installation on the two separate sites.
For more information, contact MunEnergy Program Manager Emily Neill at (617) 772-7513 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Written by MunEnergy Program Manager Emily Neill
