BUSINESS BRIEFS: Haidri promoted, MASSECON Finalists, Power Supply Auction, Etc.

SPONSOR OF Business Briefs in the Franklin Observer

The chamber serves the communities of Bellingham, Franklin, Holliston, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Medway, Milford, Mendon, Millis, and Upton. More information is available at https://www.tricountychamberma.org

Bristol County Promotes Haidri

Bristol County Savings Bank has announced the promotion of Amman A. Haidri to the position of Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager at its Franklin, Massachusetts office located at 375 W Central Street. Haidri is responsible for the management of branch operations, customer relations and new business development. Prior to his promotion, Haidri served as Branch Manager of the Franklin office for the Bank.  Previously, he held the positions of Assistant Vice President-Retail Branch Manager at Bluestone Bank in North Attleboro and Plainville, Massachusetts; Vice President of Finance and Business Development with Bluejay Diagnostics, Inc., Acton, Massachusetts; Business Development Manager at Eastern Bank in Taunton and Sharon, Massachusetts; and Small Business Banker at Bank of America in Boston, Massachusetts. His professional affiliations include being a member in the Overseas Pakistan Entrepreneur Network (OPEN) and the BNI All Pro Chapter in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Active in the community, Haidri currently serves on the Finance Committee for the Franklin Food Pantry and is Past Chair of the Hopkinton Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

MASSECON Announces Finalists for Impact Awards

Fourteen companies from across the state have been selected as finalists for the 2024 Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards, MassEcon’s 20th annual celebration of organizations for their outstanding contributions to the Massachusetts economy. Citizens is the Presenting Sponsor. The finalists, spanning from Greater Boston to Western Massachusetts, range in size and are drawn from technology, life sciences, transportation, fulfillment, behavioral health, manufacturing, beverage, and more. Finalists include RAAKS – Westborough, and Rentschler Biopharma, Inc. – Milford. More information is available at http://www.massecon.com.

Power Capacity Auction Completed

New England’s annual capacity auction closed with sufficient power system resources to meet forecast peak demand in 2027/2028. Nearly all of the new resources securing capacity supply obligations were energy storage, solar, wind, or demand-reducing resources. ISO New England Inc. runs the auction each year to procure the resources needed to meet consumer demand for electricity three years later. Held this year on February 5, the 18th Forward Capacity Auction (FCA 18) closed after four rounds of competitive bidding. The auction secured capacity commitments of 31,556 megawatts (MW) to be available in the 2027/2028 commitment period, at a preliminary price of $3.58 per kilowatt-month (kW-month) in all zones and import interfaces.

FCA 18 by the numbers

• The total value of the capacity market in 2027/2028 will be approximately $1.3 billion (preliminary estimate)
• Approximately 36,800 MW of resources, including about 32,700 MW of existing capacity and 4,100 MW of new capacity, qualified to participate in the auction
• Capacity clearing the auction totaled 31,556 MW, including:
• 28,478 MW of generation, including 998 MW of new resources
• 2,614 MW (including 105 MW new) of demand resources, including energy efficiency, load management, and distributed generation resources
• 465 MW of imports from New York, Québec, and New Brunswick

Compensation Costs Rise

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 3.1% in the Boston-Worcester-Providence area for the year ended in December 2023. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that one year ago, the Boston metropolitan area experienced an annual gain of 5.5%. From December 2022 to December 2023, wages and salaries, the largest component of total compensation, advanced 3.4%. Nationally, compensation costs increased 4.1% for the same period; wages and salaries rose 4.3%. For more information about U.S. trends, please see the latest national Employment Cost Index (ECI) release, at www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/eci.pdf.

Family Fest & Home Show Coming Soon

Sponsored by the Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce, Family Fest & Home Show is a not-to-be missed opportunities for vendors and sponsors to connect with a great audience. The event will be held on Saturday, March 23, at the Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School, moments from I-495, in Franklin. More information is available here: https://www.tricountychamberma.org/family-fest