Concord and several area towns are getting on the community power bandwagon.

The City Council unanimously voted Monday to adopt the program, which allows communities to participate in buying electricity rather than just getting it through the local utility. Voters in three area towns also agreed Tuesday, with two more taking it up Saturday.

Concord City Council voted 15-0 on Monday to proceed, using the non-profit Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire as their power agency. The program will probably kick off this fall.

On Tuesday, town meeting day, a number of towns throughout the state saw voters back community power. That includes Dunbarton, where it passed easily on a show of hands, and Pittsfield, which backed the idea by ballot, 291-87. Those communities will use the private company Standard Power of Nashua as their broker.

Deerfield voters also approved getting into community power, 742-575, while voters in Boscawen also approved the idea of community power through the Community Power Coalition. Voters in Loudon and Hopkinton, both of which are members of the Community Power Coalition but have not agreed to launch the service, will vote on the issue at town meeting Saturday.

It’s possible that towns could launch the service as early as June.

In discussion before the Concord City Council, one issue that came up involves net metering, when people with solar panels are paid for excess electricity sent back to the grid. Electric utilities haven’t shared the necessary data to allow net-metering customers to participate in community power, so customers with solar panels are not automatically enrolled in the Coalition’s programs.

Sixteen New Hampshire towns and cities are already participating in community power through the Coalition and dozens more are considering it or are in the process of starting. Seven other communities participate through Standard Power and more than a dozen are considering it.

The two programs both buy power on the open market, rather than through the local regulated utility, but have a number of differences. The Coalition acts as somewhat of a power service provider for the community, negotiating prices for power usually after twice-a-year adjustment in rates from utilities. Standard Power acts as a broker, negotiating a multi-year contract at a set price.

Under state law, residents of community-power towns and cities are automatically enrolled in the program but can opt out at no cost, staying with the local utility. The utility continues to handle billing and continues charging for distribution of electricity; only the “energy charge” for actual electricity is consumed differs. The energy charge usually takes up about half of home bills.

Community power is usually cheaper than electricity from the utility, although not always, and usually provides more options for paying extra for “green” power.