All customers of Massachusetts public power utility Chicopee Electric Light (CEL) now have access to high speed, broadband internet access.
CEL completed its Crossroads Fiber fiber optic internet network in July.
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company provided details on the project in the Summer 2026 issue of its Joint Action Newsletter.
The fiber network project dates back to 2016 when the light department conducted a feasibility study to determine whether a municipal fiber service could work in Chicopee.
"CEL was no stranger to fiber at that time. The department already used fiber for utility communications, including its Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system which allows CEL to remotely monitor and control portions of the electric system," MMWEC noted.
The department also interconnected a few dozen municipal facilities, maintained some dark fiber leases, and worked with Holyoke Gas & Electric to provide fiber service to businesses.
“We realized fairly early in the process that we're not just an electric company — we're a ‘wires company,’" said CEL General Manager Daniel Faille. “Building, operating and maintaining infrastructure is what we do, and fiber proved to be very much within our wheelhouse and another way we could serve the community.”
By 2018, CEL had a pilot program operating, and in 2019, the department committed to the citywide installation with a goal of completing the network over approximately seven years, MMWEC noted.
"When determining which areas to build in first, CEL used a show-of-interest model which proved quite successful. The department identified the areas of the city with the highest interest and began building in those communities so it could generate revenue as the project grew, allowing CEL to complete the project without needing to borrow capital," MMWEC reported in its newsletter.
"Completing the citywide fiber build represents ten years of listening to our community and steadily working toward a goal,” Faille said. “We proved that a municipal light plant can build this kind of infrastructure responsibly, grow it based on actual customer demand, and do it without borrowing capital for the build. Broadband is now simply another essential service CEL provides to Chicopee.”
Despite some logistical challenges the pandemic brought, CEL completed its fiber network within its original timeframe goal.
Crossroads Fiber currently serves more than 6,300 residential customers and more than 150 businesses, while receiving new applications daily. Customer survey results show that current fiber customers are satisfied with their service.
Faille attributes the success of the network to his team who worked collaboratively to learn new skills and expertise, MMWEC noted.
“People throughout CEL contributed to this — from the linemen who helped build the network and stock clerks managing hundreds of new parts, to our billing and customer service teams learning an entirely new business,” Faille said. “We added new people and new expertise along the way, and together they built Crossroads into what it is today. Fiber is woven into our DNA now. It's part of who we are."
MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Court in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities.
MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state’s consumer-owned, municipal utilities. It is the largest provider of asset-owned generation for municipal light departments in New England.
