Belmont Light directs staff toward battery pilot

Municipal Light Board · Meeting of August 13, 2026

Belmont Municipal Light Board weighed a major rate-methodology overhaul and battery-storage pilot projects but took no formal vote on either. Staff analyst Maria presented three cost-allocation methods, recommending a 12-month peak-period approach over four summer peaks to better reflect electrification trends, with board members signaling support but asking for more study before any formal policy. Staff detailed battery options including a 5-megawatt utility-scale system projected at $8.4 million with a nine-year payback, and a smaller commercial battery paired with a planned EV charger project at Claflin Street that would use part of the department's roughly $600,000 electrification fund.

The general manager reported a power-cost-adjustment charge taking effect September 1 will roughly double to about 1.56 cents per kilowatt hour, adding "a seven or eight dollar increase for the typical customer." He also disclosed a legal dispute with a commercial customer over a removed, non-code-compliant electrical service, and said Belmont Light joined 23 other public power entities in a FERC filing projected to save ratepayers $292 million annually.

In the full story:

• Approval of Minutes and Public Comment
• Cost-of-Service Methodology Follow-Up
• Electrification Fund Discussion and Battery Storage Options
• General Manager's Report
• Adjournment
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,260 words

Source: the Municipal Light Board meeting of August 13, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.