For electricity customers,
visit CommunityPowerNH.gov
About Us
The Coalition
The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH) is a non-profit Joint Powers Agency, incorporated on October 1, 2021. Governed by communities, for communities, the Coalition empowers cities, towns, and counties across New Hampshire to take control of their energy futures.
As of May 2025, the Coalition includes sixty-four municipalities and four county members.
Coalition membership is open to all New Hampshire cities, towns, counties, and regionally operated Community Power Aggregations. There are no upfront costs to join. The cost of launching and operating each member’s Community Power program is repaid through electricity rates and revenues from participating customers.
CPCNH supports its members by helping to:
-
Streamline the local authorization process for Community Power programs
-
Share services, staff support, and expertise
-
Participate in joint power solicitations and local project development
-
Collaborate regionally on clean energy and resilient infrastructure
-
Advocate collectively before the Legislature and Public Utilities Commission on energy issues
Operating
These communities have launched their Community Power programs and are actively supplying electricity to customers. CPCNH is managing energy supply and customer service on their behalf.
County Operating: These are county-level programs that have launched and are serving customers, with eligible municipalities participating through a shared governance structure.
Ready
These communities have completed all approvals and are fully prepared to launch Community Power service in an upcoming enrollment wave.
Planning
These communities are in the process of developing or finalizing their Community Power plans and working toward local and state approvals.
County Opt-Ins
Communities located within a CPCNH member county but not enrolled in the county-level program or CPCNH directly.
CPCNH Member Map
Roll over each CPCNH Member Community to see its Member Representatives.
Our Mission, Vision & Values
Mission
We power New Hampshire communities with local energy solutions, education, and advocacy.
Vision
We envision a future where communities are empowered to realize their energy goals through innovative and competitive means.
Values
We will create value for our Community Power member municipalities by jointly contracting for services, developing projects and programs together, educating and engaging the public, and advocating for communities and customers at the Legislature and Public Utilities Commission.
In carrying out its activities, we're guided by the following values:
-
Support communities to reduce energy costs and pursue economic vitality by harnessing the power of competitive markets and innovation.
-
Support communities to implement successful energy and climate policies and to promote the transition to a carbon neutral energy system.
-
Balance the interests of member communities who are diverse in demographics, geography and their energy goals.
-
Use our shared expertise, leadership and skills to educate, empower and build the capacities of our members.
-
Help communities demystify the power sector to make informed decisions.
-
Facilitate collaboration and teamwork by championing diversity, equity and inclusion of people and communities of all kinds.
Coalition Network & Events
The Coalition maintains a communications network across dozens of New Hampshire towns, cities and counties interested in launching Community Power programs.
The Network has remained engaged throughout our formation process by participating in the Coalition’s Joint Action events and by supporting important state policy initiatives such as the House Bill 315 compromise and regulatory rule development at the Public Utilities Commission.
Annual Membership & Board Meeting (April 2025)
Key Highlights
On April 24, 2025, CPCNH held its Annual Membership and Board Meetings at the Falls Event Center in Manchester, where member communities convened to elect new Directors and officers, adopt a charter amendment, and advance key initiatives.
The day featured strategic planning updates, approval of a new solar power purchase agreement, and the formation of a standing Projects and Programs Committee. With broad participation both in-person and online, the event marked continued progress toward CPCNH’s mission of building a more affordable, resilient, and locally controlled energy future for New Hampshire.
CPCNH staff members welcome attendees with meeting materials and maps, supporting member engagement from the very first step.
Member representatives from across New Hampshire gather at the 2025 Annual Meeting to discuss governance priorities and shared energy goals.
Lisa Sweet reflects on her leadership role as Vice Chair and MOEC Chair, thanking members and staff for their shared commitment.
CPCNH staff members welcome attendees with meeting materials and maps, supporting member engagement from the very first step.
Office Hours Recap: 2025 Annual Meeting Highlights
Catch up on key takeaways from CPCNH’s 2025 Annual Meeting in this recorded Office Hours session, including governance updates, new board leadership, and the Poverty Plains Solar Project approval.
Coalition Member Candidates Event (March 2021)
As a follow-up to the Community Power Summit, over 70 local representatives of municipalities in various stages of exploring Community Power attended the Coalition's "Member Candidates" event on March 18, 2020.
Members of the Organizing Group provided an update regarding the formation process of the agency and discussed key sections of the Coalition Joint Powers Agreement.
Event materials are available for download here.
Community Power Summit (June 2020)
On June 5, 2020, the Organizing Group brought together 86 attendees from over 30 cities, towns and counties across New Hampshire representing ~25% of New Hampshire's default electricity load for an interactive discussion on Community Power and the Coalition "joint powers agency" model under development. The event featured a keynote presentation by Girish Balachandran, CEO of Silicon Valley Clean Energy. Watch the introductory overview and keynote below (and download the Summit agenda here):
Our History
The Coalition’s ad-hoc “Organizing Group” of municipal officials and staff led the formation of Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire beginning in late 2019 and concluding with the organization's incorporation on October 1, 2021. The Organizing Group was led in part by following municipal officials:
Rod Bouchard
Cheshire County
Assistant County Administrator for Special Projects & Strategic Initiatives
Julia Griffin
Town of Hanover
Town Manager
Early Stage Formation
Beginning in 2019, an ad-hoc work group known as the “Coalition Organizing Group” met regularly to research national best practices and explore the viability of establishing a new public power nonprofit to share services across municipalities and counties. The Coalition Organizing Group has been led by the following municipal and county staff and officials:
-
City of Lebanon: Clifton Below, Assistant Mayor; Tad Montgomery, Energy & Facilities Manager; Everett Hammond, Assistant Public Works Director
-
Town of Hanover: Julia Griffin, Town Manager; April Salas, Sustainability Director;
-
City of Nashua: Doria Brown, Energy Manager;
-
Cheshire County: Christopher Coates, County Administrator; Rod Bouchard, Deputy County Administrator;
-
Town of Harrisville: Andrea Hodson, Selectwoman and member of Electric Aggregation Committee; Ned Hulbert, member of Electric Aggregation Committee.
The Coalition has been supported by technical and community advisors including: Henry Herndon, formerly Director of Local Energy Solutions, Clean Energy NH; Dori Drachman, Co-Founder, Monadnock Sustainability Network; Samuel Golding, President, Community Choice Partners; Dr. Amro Farid, Associate Professor, Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College; and Mary Day Mordecai, Growing Edge Partners.
Members of the Coalition’s Organizing Group have:
-
Participated and often led discussions in the Community Power informal rule drafting process hosted by the Public Utilities Commission;
-
Intervened in regulatory proceedings and legislative hearings to represent the interests of communities and customers, such as by advocating for expanded data access in the Commission’s Statewide Data Platform docket (DE 19-197), and successfully negotiating the clarification and expansion of key Community Power authorities in House Bill 315;
-
Assessed power agency design best practices — in terms of community governance and competitive operating models — by interviewing elected officials, senior staff and vendors operating Community Power programs in other states (such as the Redwood Coast Energy Authority and Silicon Valley Clean Energy in California), along with representatives from public power associations (such as the American Public Power Association and the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority) and other industry experts; and
-
Hosted a virtual summit on Community Power that was attended by over eighty representatives from thirty-one municipalities, collectively representing one-quarter of the state’s default electricity market.
Execution of legal, community engagement and professional services contracts
In the second half of 2020, the City of Lebanon and Town of Hanover, in collaboration with the Organizing Group, after reviewing six responses to a Request for Qualifications, retained the law firm of Duncan, Weinberg, Genzer & Pembroke and worked with firm president Michael Postar Esq. and subcontracted New Hampshire counsel to draft the Coalition’s Joint Power Agreement. Duncan Weinberg are national leaders with over 50 years of public power legal guidance. In January 2021, the New Hampshire Attorney General approved our governance agreement as conforming to state law. Hanover and Lebanon are the first two municipalities to have voted to approve the Joint Powers Agreement to create the Coalition.
In February 2021, the City of Lebanon — using previously secured grant funding and in collaboration with the Coalition’s Organizing Group — contracted with Henry Herndon (formerly the Director of Local Energy Solutions at Clean Energy New Hampshire) and Samuel Golding of Community Choice Partners, Inc., to provide implementation support services prior to launch. Services include supporting municipalities throughout the Community Power approval and formation process, conducting competitive solicitations for the services, credit support and electricity procurement required to launch and operate member Community Power programs, and supporting the early-stage launch of the Coalition's power supply services and enrollment of initial customers.
The Coalition subsequently contracted with qualified vendors and credit-worthy suppliers to cover the upfront cost of implementing Community Power programs, the expense of which will be amortized and recovered in program rates and charges to participating customers for a specified term. Similar at-risk and performance-based contract structures have been used to successfully launch and operate programs in other Community Power markets.