Choose 100% Green Electricity

Impact

Cost

Changes for 2026

Since 2017, the Acton Power Choice program (APC) of the Town of Acton has been providing Acton Eversource electricity customers the option to sign up for APC GREEN which obtains 100% renewably sourced electricity from Northeast generation projects. This has been accomplished by buying up Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to support the demand for new renewable energy within our region (a further explanation of RECs is in the Deep Dive section below). However, recent changes in the electricity market makes it unclear if the purchase of RECs, when you opt up to APC Green in 2026, will cause the building of new or additional renewable energy electricity facilities, as intended. Due to rulings and delays at the federal, regional, and state levels, there are now simply not enough renewable projects in the permitting pipeline to meet the existing requirements of state REC purchasing mandates, and so having the Town buy additional RECs is not increasing the incentive to build new clean energy projects. For a more comprehensive explanation of this problem read this Acton Exchange article. Meanwhile, the Town is researching other ways to restore the ability of the APC GREEN program to support new renewable electricity production. Please keep this in mind as you read the following sections, which were written before this change. Energize Acton will update this section as soon as there is new information.

You Can “Green” Your Electricity Usage

You can “green” your electricity usage by choosing an electrical supplier that provides 100% renewable energy and you will have the added benefit of supporting the building of new green energy infrastructure in our Northeast region. Just Opt Up to Acton Power Choice GREEN.

Opt Up To Acton Power Choice (APC) GREEN

The quickest and easiest way to reduce your household’s greenhouse gas emissions is to Opt up to APC GREEN! APC GREEN provides 100% renewably sourced electricity from Northeast generation projects. By switching from an electricity supplier that uses fossil fuels to APC GREEN you will reduce household emissions significantly, and help leverage development of more renewable energy generation and green jobs in the region.

It is estimated that the average Acton household can reduce carbon emissions from electricity by 1.5 – 2 tons annually. Two tons of carbon kept out of the atmosphere is the equivalent of driving 4,500 miles fewer each year or the carbon sequestered in a year by 2.5 acres of U.S. forest.

Steps to Take

Go to this website: Opt up to Acton Power Choice GREEN and learn more about APC by visiting the Frequently Asked Questions and the Options and Pricing pages. When you are ready to enroll, just make sure you have a copy of one of your recent Eversource bills with you and click on the Enroll button.
Enroll in just 5 minutes! All you need to do is enter some account information from your Eversource electricity bill, some contact information, and select the Acton Power Choice Green option!
Let us know how it went and how you feel about your new electricity supply! Please contribute a testimonial.

Deep Dive

How Exactly Does APC GREEN Work?

When you look at your electricity bill you will notice that what you are being charged is divided into two main parts: a delivery charge and a supply charge for the electricity. Eversource delivers your electricity and so delivery services appear on your bill as Delivery charges. Eversource also supplies your electricity, which means they buy electricity for you and pass the cost along to you. The cost of the electricity they buy for you appears on your bill as your Supply charge.

In Massachusetts, there are three ways to purchase your Supply electricity:

1) your utility can do it for you (this is called Eversource’s Basic Service);

2) you can sign a contract with a third party electricity supplier yourself (but be careful – there are many unscrupulous companies out there!); or

3) your municipal government can negotiate and sign a contract with an electricity supplier that you can benefit from. This third option is municipal electricity aggregation, and this is what Acton Power Choice is. Acton uses the bulk purchasing power of the entire community to select an electricity supplier and to negotiate both the amount of renewable energy that is purchased as well as the price. For the APC GREEN option, Acton has selected a company that provides 100% green energy.

How Do We Know We Are Getting Green Energy – RECs

So, if multiple electricity generating companies (which are not all green) all put electricity into the grid at the same time, how do we know we are getting green energy? For every kilowatt hour that you use, the APC program ensures that a renewable energy generator puts enough power onto the grid for your usage. The program electricity supplier does this by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), on your behalf, from a renewable electricity generator.

Your demand for REC purchases (through your APC GREEN consumption), as well as that of thousands of other REC buyers, has three impacts:

1) it increases demand for renewable energy on the Northeast power grid,

2) funds new sources of renewable power, and

3) reduces the need to burn fossil fuels for electricity generation.

APC GREEN is a powerful way to clean up our regional electricity supply

Decisions to Electrify Achieve Greater Emissions Reductions Using APC GREEN

The availability of renewably sourced electricity through APC GREEN means that decisions to electrify — for example, with electric vehicles (EVs) or heat pump technology for stationary heating and cooling — can achieve significantly greater emissions reductions than are achieved with APC’s other less green options or with the Eversource Basic Service. On average, an Acton APC GREEN household can cut its annual carbon emissions by approximately 2 metric tons of CO₂ equivalents (MTCO₂e), as previously noted. But for households that also electrify their heating and cooling, and vehicles, and therefore use more electricity (but no fossil fuels!), APC GREEN may cut emissions by far more than 1.5 – 2 tons annually and may be as much as an additional 6 to 7 tons. For a table of the tons of emission reductions for various actions, see the deep dive tab for Heat & Cool: Heat Pumps. Note, these estimates of emission reductions are intended as relative magnitudes and approximations, not predictions of individual results.

For additional information and answers to frequently asked questions visit the Acton Power Choice website.

Last Updated (3/10/26)

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