Temple residents will soon be able to start being part of community power, as the town moves to adopt a plan through the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire.

The plan, which was approved by this year’s Town Meeting, would create a new default Temple Community Power energy rate for residents. Residents currently using Eversource will be automatically enrolled into Temple Community Power if they do not opt out.

Community power allows municipalities to purchase power in bulk for residents, with the intent of negotiating lower rates and the potential for more energy from renewable sources. Eversource would continue to maintain the power lines and bill customers. Residents would be able to opt out or maintain existing contracts with energy suppliers.

On Tuesday evening, the Temple Select Board met with Robert Wills, the chair of the town’s Community Power Committee and Renewable Energy Task Force to discuss moving forward with adopting community power.

“The main benefit of community power is lower cost to the community, but there are others,” Wills said. “Basically, money comes in from customers, and it goes into net revenue reserves which results in customer savings.”

Wills added that, under a traditional energy provider, customer fees don’t benefit the town like they do under community power.

“If we buy that power from Eversource or a utility broker, they take a fee and return that money to their shareholders,” he said. “In the case of a coalition like this, the savings accrue to everyone.”

Member towns of the Community Power Coalition can draw upon the savings reserve to offset increased energy costs.

“So, in general, we can expect lower electricity prices,” Wills said.

According to Community Power Coalition representative Andrew Hatch, “Eversource has announced its rates – the numbers that we’re seeing are in the 10.4 to 10.7 cents per-kilowatt-hour for customers. The coalition will announce its rates formally on Thursday, but our current rate is 8.1 cents, and we’re hoping to maintain a good delta between the Eversource rate and the new CPCNH rate.”

Hatch explained that CPCNH is in constant communication with energy providers, allowing them to take advantage of rate decreases, and passing the savings onto CPCNH customers in the form of competitive rates.

Members of the Select Board inquired about the process of withdrawing from the plan if the town no longer wishes to participate.

“What we would expect you to do is express an interest in an early termination agreement,” Hatch said. “That will give you the information that Temple needs to know for exactly how long Temple will be responsible for its liabilities.”

Ultimately, the Select Board moved to enter into the CPCNH cost-sharing and member services contract. Chair Bill Ezell and member Ken Caisse voted in the affirmative, and member George Willard abstained. The motion passed and the Select Board sig ned the contracts, entering them into the community power coalition. The program will begin in August.