New Castle and Community Choice Aggregation (CCA)
The New Castle Sustainability Advisory Board has recommended that the Town Board adopt Community Choice Aggregation and partner with 15 (and counting) municipalities in Westchester that have already adopted CCA. We welcome your comments at the public hearing on CCA on September 21, 2015 in Town Hall.
Community Choice Aggregation provides an opportunity for New Castle to work with other municipalities in Westchester to combine our demand for electricity and by doing so, pay lower prices and obtain power generated from renewable resources.
Consider the following facts:
· Electricity is generated by power plants within New York and the rest of the country.
· The utility (in our case, Con Ed) distributes electricity produced by 3rd party power plants to our homes and businesses.
· In New York we have the right to choose our own power supplier although no matter who the supplier is, the electricity is always distributed by Con Ed (in New Castle). Before CCA, the government chose Con Ed to be our default power supplier unless as individual households we selected a 3rd party supplier.
· Even if we choose a different supplier, our electric lines outside our homes are still maintained by Con Ed and they are still responsible for getting electricity to us.
Consider how aggregating demand allows for lower prices:
· Large businesses let 3rd party power suppliers bid to provide them service. Whoever provides the lowest rates gets to supply the power. They can do this and get better rates than residents for green and fossil-fuel generated electricity because they require much more power than single residential homes.
· By “aggregating” demand, suppliers can provide us with lower prices because they are bidding on supplying a huge amount of electricity. It also lowers their marketing costs.
· No matter where you purchase your electricity, it’s the same quality – electrons are electrons.
What happens with CCA?
CCA takes control from the State government and puts it in the hands of municipalities so that residents have more choice. Under CCA, our community chooses our own default power supplier which means we can demand and receive better prices for green and fossil-fuel generated electricity.
By combining with many other municipalities we aggregate demand, and using volunteer experts from Sustainable Westchester (a 501 (c)(3) organization of which New Castle is a member) to manage the process, we allow qualified power suppliers to bid to supply our power. The lowest bid wins. If the bid for a fixed electricity price is lower than the average of the Con Ed price from the preceding 12 months, all residents currently using Con Ed as a supplier are automatically moved to the new supplier and begin saving money.
What if I still want Con Ed or another 3rd party supplier?
No problem. You can “opt-out” at any time, either before the new contract begins or any time during the 3 year contract – and it will be simple to do by web or phone. There is no charge for opting out. However, once you opt-out, you may not be able to get back in at the same low price as your neighbors – especially if supply prices increase significantly.
What happens if a storm blows down electrical wires? And who will send me my electricity bill?
Con Ed is still responsible for ensuring you receive electricity and for your bill, so you will always call Con Ed to fix wires. In fact nothing really changes, except the price of your power and if it comes from renewable resources.
What is a “fixed price” contract?
Think about a fixed interest vs. a variable interest rate on your home mortgage, only this is with actual price.
Con Ed provides variable pricing. When supply prices go up, they raise the price and when they go down, they lower it. Historically, prices have increased over the long-term.
With CCA, suppliers will bid to provide a contract for electricity that costs less than the average of Con Ed’s variable price for electricity from the past 12 months. Once that price is locked in, if the price of electricity provided by power producers increases (which is normal and expected), you still pay the contracted fixed price for the remainder of the contract. If the price of electricity provided by power producers decreases, you can choose to opt-out of the contract at any time with no additional cost, and return to Con Ed or another 3rd party.
What is green electricity? Why should I use it? How can I get it?
“Green” electricity is electricity created by renewable resources such as wind and sun. When you choose green electricity you are sending a signal to the market that you don’t want highly polluting coal and natural gas generated electricity, you care about protecting our air, sea, and land and want the clean stuff. By choosing green electricity produced from renewable resources, when you turn on your lights, computer, air conditioning, or TV, you won’t be the cause of more pollutants being emitted or the climate changing – you’ll be making a significant positive difference.
Power producers will respond by creating clean power plants, and Westchester may even be able to produce its own solar power plant. You will help push the price of solar electricity lower than the price of fossil fuel electricity (expected before 2020), which means we will all save even more money.
You will be able to choose green by opting up (details will be provided later).
Where can I get more information?
There is a large amount of information on the web about Community Choice Aggregation, including: http://tinyurl.com/Westchester-CCA and http://tinyurl.com/CCA-QandA and you can write to .