The Chelsea City Council on Monday sent a 20-year solar credit deal for low-income households back to committee for a second time, after Councillor Todd Taylor called the state program behind it “probably the most deceitful piece of legislation that I’ve ever seen.” The vote to refer was 4-3, with four councillors absent. The same night, the council approved 7-0 a separate solar agreement that City Manager Fidel Maltez said will save the city about $60,000 a year on electricity for its own buildings and schools.
The two deals were first on the agenda on September 14 (our explainer) and went to the Subcommittee on Conference, which met on September 22 and sent both back with a positive recommendation (what Maltez told the council then).
The low-income deal
Under the state’s SMART solar incentive program, Chelsea would sign 20-year agreements with BWC Merriam Brook LLC and Blue Meadow Brook LLC. Credits from their solar projects would be passed through Eversource to Chelsea Electricity Choice customers who are already on Eversource’s low-income rate. Maltez said residents qualify automatically through programs such as MassHealth and SNAP. “Chelsea has 10,000 residents that are on SNAP,” he said. “So if you have SNAP, this will benefit you.”
Taylor, who sat on the subcommittee, said he had to “wiggle it out of them” who pays. His answer: Eversource customers who do not qualify. “If the people on Beacon Hill want to pass a law that gives low-income people cheap electricity, they should do it in the legislature,” he said. “There’s no way to opt into this for anybody who is not on public assistance. So that means any of the working poor.” He told viewers that any councillor who votes yes “is voting for a tax.”
Councillor Giovanni Recupero agreed. “I’m a Democrat and he’s a Republican. And for once I agree with him,” he said. “Why is everything given to low income, low income? I’m sick and tired of low income. There’s plenty working poor people in our state.”
Councillor Manuel Teshe said he partly agreed that ratepayers subsidize solar, but that the state also backs other energy projects coming to Chelsea, and “if you want to fight the state, don’t do it at the cost of the poor people that do need this program.” Councillor Deron Hines said he was conflicted: residents would save money, but “for a program that we, the general taxpayers, are already paying into.” Vice President Norieliz DeJesus, who chaired the meeting, said she would vote no. Councillors had asked “very specific questions” at the subcommittee, she said, “and now we’re finding news that wasn’t shared for us.”
What the city manager said
Maltez said that if Chelsea declines, Eversource rates stay where they are and the benefit goes elsewhere: “We will pay for the benefit for residents in New Bedford, for instance, or residents in Salem as opposed to residents in Chelsea.” Taylor said no other community had signed yet. Maltez said Salem, Revere and Cambridge are “at the exact same point as we are,” each taking it to its own council.
Asked whether the city could get out of a 20-year contract once it signs, Maltez said, “I don’t know the answer to that question,” and that he believed the city could terminate and give up the savings. Asked whether Chelsea could join later if it said no now, he said, “I do not know.” He said nothing has been signed, and that another meeting to answer the hard questions “is actually a really good suggestion.”
How the vote went
Teshe first asked for a roll call on the deal itself, then asked whether the vote could wait for a meeting with all 11 councillors present. Councillor Calvin Brown moved instead to send it back to the Subcommittee on Conference, noting that four councillors were absent. Taylor objected that another subcommittee “is not gonna change my mind at all” and that councillors “have to take responsibility for showing up to the meeting and actually voting.” The motion to refer carried 4-3; the clerk recorded Taylor, Recupero and Teshe as voting no. Council President Roberto Jimenez-Rivera and Councillors Tanairi Garcia, Kelly Garcia and Leo Robinson were absent. The order creating a revolving fund for the program went back to the same subcommittee.
The city’s own deal passed
The second agreement lets the city buy net metering credits from 978 Solar Development LLC, a New Leaf Energy subsidiary, for up to 30 years. Taylor asked whether it was tied to the low-income program. “No, sir,” Maltez said. “This is a contract between the city of Chelsea and a solar developer to reduce the city’s bills,” for City Hall, the police station, public works and the schools, saving “about $60,000 a year.” It passed 7-0.
A full automatic transcript of the meeting is posted separately.