John Stoddard Hingham Light Board Candidate Profile

March 8, 2021, Submitted by John Stoddard, Candidate for re-election to the Hingham Light Board

I am excited to announce my running for re-election to the Hingham Light Board. Prior to my running for the Board, I worked as a lineman at Hingham Light for 6 years. I have been a member of the Light Board for the past 20 years and am one of the 5 longest serving members in the history of the HMLP. I also run my own fully-licensed electrical contracting business which has been operating for the past 19 years. In total, I have more than 40 years of experience working as an electrician on the South Shore. I have lived in Hingham my entire life and my wife and I have raised my two sons here.

For the entire time that I have served on the Hingham Light Board, Hingham’s electrical service has been one of the most reliable in the area. This is because we re-invest your money back into the system to continuously maintain and improve our equipment and facilities. In my time on the Board, we have consistently worked to provide carbon free energy and now nearly 60% of the town’s electricity is carbon free. Currently we have no legislated mandate to have any carbon free supply like the investor owned utilities (IOUs) in Massachusetts (MA). Despite that lack of a requirement, we are now a decade ahead of the IOUs regarding buying carbon free power for the rate payers of Hingham. Also, though we are ahead of a self-imposed schedule on carbon free energy in Hingham, we have also managed to maintain stable and low rates. Over the past 14 years, we have only had 3 rate changes with 1 being a rate reduction.

During my time on the Light Board, I have supported numerous endeavors to make the town’s electricity more carbon free and to make it more affordable for residents to make renewable energy choices of their own. This includes supporting the Clean Energy Bill which is an effort by the municipal light plants (MLPs) of MA to match the state’s clean energy goals of being Net-Zero by 2050. In my time on the board, we have also enacted the LED Streetlight Program as well as the MLP Solar Program. The LED Streetlight Program allowed the town to adopt energy efficient LED streetlights, which saves energy and ratepayer money while reducing light pollution throughout Hingham. The MLP Solar Program let us match HMLP dollars to state dollars and allowed residents access to affordable home solar power to save you and HMLP money. Finally, I voted to create and support the Hingham Drives Electric program which informs customers about the savings and benefits that come from choosing an electric vehicle as well as the incentives for both purchasing and charging that are available to HMLP customers.

While any organization can improve I feel our current Board’s makeup has served Hingham well in terms of reliability, cost and being carbon free. As you can see, I have considerable experience on the board and in my own professional career that I believe makes me the best candidate for the job. I will strive to continue to have HMLP deliver reliable electricity at affordable rates to our customers while also supporting future carbon free energy initiatives that will ensure the success of our town for years to come.

Thank you for your vote.