Municipal energy management often competes with staffing challenges, fiscal deadlines, and day-to-day operational demands. Freedom Energy partners with Massachusetts municipalities to simplify procurement, reduce risk, and uncover long-term cost savings without adding burden to internal teams.

Since 2021, Freedom Energy’s municipal team has supported Massachusetts municipalities through a no-cost, advisory-driven process. Freedom Energy serves 38 communities today and the number continues to grow. The work begins with a one-time review of electric and natural gas invoices to identify billing errors, usage anomalies, unnecessary taxes, and opportunities for net metering credits.

Freedom provides competitive bid summaries and supplier comparisons often up to 24 months ahead of contract start dates ensuring municipalities never miss favorable market opportunities. As a supplier-agnostic advisor, Freedom works with vetted suppliers and supports legal reviews and approvals through clear contract comparison memos.

Once contracts are executed, Freedom remains actively involved through enrollment verification, ongoing account monitoring, and flexible add/delete provisions that allow accounts to be added or removed without penalties as facilities change.

Year-end, municipalities receive an individualized end-of-year memo outlining savings achieved, budget expectations, and strategic recommendations for the year ahead.

Learn more at felpower.com or call 877-292-4232.

Freedom Energy looks forward to connecting with municipal leaders at the 2026 Massachusetts Municipal Association Connect 351 Conference, January 22–23, at Booth 525.

Energy markets are volatile, making it challenging for procurement teams to balance competitive pricing with long-term risk management. Energy procurement benchmarking helps organizations evaluate forward prices, contract terms, and market conditions to strengthen cost control and decision-making.

Effective benchmarking goes beyond comparing today’s prices. It examines contract structures, supplier performance, and timing strategies to identify opportunities that may otherwise be missed, such as, overreliance on short-term contracts or failing to hedge when market conditions are favorable.

A critical component of benchmarking is evaluating outer-year pricing and energy prices beyond the immediate contract term. While short-term market volatility can mask trends, forward pricing often reveals longer-term risks driven by fuel supply, regulatory changes, and evolving demand. Understanding these trends helps organizations avoid future cost exposure and make more resilient procurement decisions.

Outer-year benchmarking also supports sustainability initiatives and budget planning. Long-term price visibility helps ensure renewable energy strategies remain financially viable while giving finance teams greater confidence in forecasting and budgeting.

In uncertain markets, procurement benchmarking delivers the most value when it looks beyond the present, providing the foresight needed to strengthen negotiations, manage risk, and build a resilient energy strategy.

Municipalities continue to face growing complexity when managing energy needs. Limited internal resources, tight budgets, evolving sustainability goals, and volatile markets make energy planning more challenging than ever.

This Muni Minute highlights the top energy challenges municipalities face today. Strategic planning can help address them.

• Limited resources: Energy management is often handled by already-stretched staff.

• Sustainability goals: Communities are balancing renewable energy and emission reduction commitments with budget realities.

• Financial constraints: Funding, grants, and incentives can be difficult to navigate.

• Complex contracts: Supplier agreements may include hidden risks or inflexible terms.

• Community engagement: Energy decisions require transparency and public support.

• Account management: Managing multiple utility accounts increases the risk of billing errors.

• Market expertise gaps: Rapidly changing markets require specialized knowledge.

• Price volatility: Fluctuating energy costs can disrupt budgets and planning.

• Information overload: Not every new technology or program is the right fit.

• Continuity challenges: Staff turnover can stall long-term energy initiatives.

With the right guidance and market insight, municipalities can manage costs, reduce risk, and plan confidently for the future. Strategic energy planning helps communities stay resilient while advancing long-term goals. Working with Freedom Energy’s municipal group, you have a specialized energy expert member on your team.

Many Massachusetts municipalities benefit from Net Metering Agreements — but without active oversight, excess credits can quietly accumulate, creating large negative balances. Here’s how to manage and optimize your credits to protect your community’s bottom line.