NEWBURY — The sign-up period has been extended for a clean energy program that could gain the town a free solar panel.
Gene Smith, chairman of the town's Alternative Energy Committee, said the deadline for people to sign on to New England GreenStart has been extended to June 30 from its original date of April 30.
Smith said if 150 people from Newbury enroll in the GreenStart program, the town will get a free 2-kilowatt solar panel to put on a municipal building.
In the hope of getting people interested in the program, the Alternative Energy Committee included a flier about GreenStart in the real estate tax bills that were mailed April 1.
Smith said 21 people had signed up before the mailing went out with the tax bills but that the nonprofit agency that operates the New England GreenStart program, the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, had not supplied him with an up-to-date tally.
Under the program, households add a charge to their electric bills corresponding to either 100 percent or 50 percent of their energy use.
According to the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance Web site, the National Grid electricity utility uses renewable energy sources — including solar, wind, biomass and small hydroelectric generators — in proportion to its GreenStart customer base.
A 50 percent match would cost 1.24 cents extra per kilowatt hour used, according to the flier, while a 100 percent match would cost 2.4 cents. The Mass Energy Consumers Alliance said that for a household bill that averages $75 per month for about 500 kilowatt hours, the extra cost to the household would be $6.25 a month for a 50 percent match or $12 for a 100 percent match.
There are additional fliers with enrollment instructions in the front vestibule at Town Hall on High Road.
