GCET to enact 5% price jump

GCET General Manager John Lunt

GCET General Manager John Lunt FILE PHOTO

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 12-17-2024 8:20 AM

Modified: 12-19-2024 8:34 AM


GREENFIELD — The local internet provider GCET announced that it will raise its prices by about 5% — move that General Manager John Lunt said would not alter the provider’s status as the most affordable high speed internet in the area.

GCET, or Greenfield Community Energy and Technology, announced the increase at its board meeting last week, where Lunt explained that GCET paid approximately $45,000 in payment processing fees last year — a cost that he said will charge back to customers who make debit or credit card payments through a 2.3% processing fee.

“It’s the same as for everyone else — insurance went up, health care went up, the materials went up, people got raises, so like every other business in the country, we had costs go up and we were affected by inflation as well,” Lunt said. “A lot of telecom has seen some very serious inflation.”

Lunt added that despite the cost increases, GCET prices will remain 30% to 35% lower than those of its competitors, Comcast and Verizon.

Although GCET did not raise its rates last year, and only increased its rates by one dollar the year prior, Vice Chair Jennifer Stromsten recommended that the service provider begin raising prices in small amounts year after year. She said that by making rate increases a “standard practice,” or a policy, the provider will be better equipped to keep up with rising costs of living.

Stromsten also said that a gradual rate increase policy would help alleviate the Department of Revenue’s potential concerns that GCET is not “fiscally sound,” or is “subject to political pressure or whims.”

“Let’s be honest, inflation’s 2%, 3%, 4%, we’re going to need to have a 2% increase every year and we could just recommend that we think of that as a standing practice or even a policy to consider ... we can adjust it you know if we’re having an incredible year,” Stromsten said. “Certainty and consistency is really the thing that people need — people hate surprises.”

In response to Stromsten’s suggestion, Lunt said he would not object to the creation of a policy outlining annual price increases and decreases. He added that the board’s current priority is to connect parts of Greenfield that either have poor internet connection with competing internet providers such as Comcast or Verizon or no internet connection at all.

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In October, the internet provider was awarded more than $750,000 in Gap Networks Grant funds to build out broadband internet in regions of the city — along the North and South city lines — that lack the service requirements necessary for high-speed internet over the course of about two years.

“There are still very rural areas that struggle with connectivity but there’s been a huge amount of new people brought online in the last few years. We have grants this year to bring some of the last ask people in Greenfield who have nothing they can connect to online,” Lunt said. “Once that happens, the focus will shift towards affordability.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled Vice Chair Jennifer Stromsten’s name.