In an uncharacteristically lengthy and verbal monthly meeting, the  Peabody Municipal  Light Commission met January 22 to reconsider their stalled 2026 budget.  They questioned a $125,000 increase in the annual service agreement  with MMWEC.  

Commissioner Ray Melvin also sought to eliminate the soon-to-be vacated Assistant Manager position due to attrition.  Joined by Commissioner Tom Paras, they questioned a rationalization for hiring attorneys as employees instead of as contractors and the number of engineers employed at PMLP were raised.

“I’m looking out for the ratepayers,” Melvin said “I don’t  think they (MMWEC) have served us well over the years. I think they really cheated us a lot and made a lot of errors.  I think they run their organization very sloppy.”

 “I asked if money’s been added to the budget because we apparently are going to be hiring  a consulting firm to insure that the strategic plan is done properly. We voted for an Organizational review, a 3-2 vote. We also asked management to freeze all positions pursuant to this request. I don’t think that was adhered to.”

“If you look at the numbers  other municipal light plants with an  MMWEC service charge are  no where near us. The number is $125,237 for Peabody for one year,” said Melvin.

“We (Peabody) are 17 percent of MMWEC,” added Paras.

MLP General Manager Joe Anastasi said, “We are the third largest municipal light plant (after Taunton and Reading)  not a smaller plant – have to look at it in context.”

Melvin asked why the issue was “never brought to our attention”?

Anastasi replied, “It goes up every year. We’re bound by a contract. There’s been a steady increase since the dawn of time. The energy market is a crazy market, extremely volatile. Every light plant is in the same situation.”

‘’We need to understand this and what that means before we start approving money and throwing money around,” said Melvin.

In January, the commission did not act on the proposed Fy226 budget.

Anastasi said six projects “are not moving forward due to the budget” and outlined how not passing a budget jeopardizes actions:

• Infrastructure upgrades

• Overtime mitigation risks
• decreased reliability and safety
• Impede long term plans
• Affect the pilot payment with the City
• Decrease public transparency and board scrutiny
• Could face fines if don’t meet state mandated deadlines