Pembroke residents will get their chance to join the community-power bandwagon soon, with notices going out in mid-January and a Jan. 31 public meeting.

The meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. in the Pembroke Academy auditorium, will explain how Pembroke Community Power works, provide some electricity cost data, and answer questions. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Town residents approved the idea of creating local community power last year. The Pembroke Energy Committee has spent 2023 getting regulatory permission and working out the details.

Community power is a state law that enables towns and cities to buy electricity on the open market and then resell it to residents and small businesses. This provides the possibility of buying cheaper power as well as getting more electricity from renewable sources. This has long been a possibility for large commercial users but only became feasible for homes and small businesses in the past two years.

More than 50 towns and cities have either started community power or are in the process of getting it.

Lower rates have been the big draw for the program, although savings vary depending on the place and situation.

Once a community adopts community power, residents can use it or stick with the utility. The utility continues to handle billing and continues to charge for the transmission and distribution of electricity, which takes up roughly half of most power bills.

Pembroke is a member of the Community Power Coalition, a nonprofit statewide group that helps communities with the complexities of the process.

For more information on the upcoming meeting, visit pembroke-nh.com.