By Carol Britton Meyer

The Hull Municipal Light Plant has been awarded a Massachusetts Clean Energy Center grant that will pay for the installation of three charging stations – with two chargers each – in the Surfside, Kenberma, and Pemberton areas.

Town Manager/Light Plant Manager Jennifer Constable shared the details with the light board on Thursday.

Former light board member Pat Cannon called this good news while also voicing that he hopes “there’s a charge for the electricity used and that there will be no cost to ratepayers for the few who want to charge their EVs. We want to be sure this is not a freebie.” Constable confirmed that this would be the case.

The work will be done by Voltpost “to enhance local clean energy access and to support electric vehicle infrastructure in the area.”

The grant is part of MassCEC’s InnovateMass Gridtech Spotlight program, which is contributing $311,236 to an initiative sponsored by the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company involving Hull Light, Belmont Light, and the Ipswich Electric Light Department.

Voltpost retrofits lampposts and utility poles into a modular charging platform to reduce costs and provide service in a smaller footprint than traditional charging stations.

Light board chair Tom Burns said he thinks it would be a good idea to discuss “the rules” of the grant with the select board – the rate, how long a vehicle can remain at a charging station, and other considerations.

“Hopefully they won’t have a negative impact on businesses. More discussions will be had,” he said.

In other business

• The board met executive session at the beginning of the meeting to discuss ownership of electrical equipment on Spinnaker Island, but no update was provided on that ongoing dispute. The board has met several times in closed session on the matter during the past two years.

According to a 2024 letter sent to the Spinnaker Island and Yacht Club Condominium Association, the light plant has determined that “the aging condominium electric infrastructure” needs to be upgraded or replaced. However, the light plant contends that the “town does not own the electrical infrastructure on Spinnaker Island. Consequently, the HMLP is not obligated to replace/upgrade or operate and maintain the condominium electrical facilities, other than the meters.”

Residents of the island have pushed back, objecting to the assertion that the light plant is not responsible for the electrical equipment on the island, citing HMLP’s decades of maintenance since the housing complex was constructed in the mid-1980s. Utilities to the island traverse a privately-owned bridge from the mainland.

• Constable told the board members that the town’s auditors will attend the board’s October 15 meeting and presented them with revenue and expenditure journals to look over, asking them to provide questions to her in advance to be asked at the meeting with the auditors.

“I hope these suffice,” she said, referring to the long list of light plant financial records and FY24 audited financial statements the board recently asked her to provide.

“I’ve heard on [a few] occasions the statement that we weren’t handing over the requested documents because we’re hiding something, and I absolutely refute that right now,” Constable said. “If there are still concerns, they should be discussed with us.”

Burns noted that “these are the first financials we’ve received since last March, which is great. Let’s get the financials going again. This is a great start.”

• Burns read a letter from Clean Energy Climate Action Committee Chair J.D. Kaplan, requesting a discussion with the light board “to prioritize the development of policy in these areas: EV charging points; microgrid enabling systems; financial support of ratepayer upgrade projects; and an accelerated, explicit commitment to no-carbon-emitting energy sources, reaching 100% by 2030.”

These challenges “are substantial, but all can be achieved with an integrated approach, right alongside the Hull Municipal Light Board’s current directives, priorities, and requirements,” Kaplan said.

The board “will have a conversation about this in the near future,” Burns responded.

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