Sustainable Westchester, the organization that brought together more than two dozen municipalities and some of their residents and businesses in its Westchester Power program is ending the program. The electric users, customers of Con Edison or New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), were switched to Westchester Power as their electric supplier, although the Con Ed and NYSEG distribution networks still were used to deliver the electricity to customers. The aggregation program specialized in providing clean energy from renewable sources at steady long-term rates to tens of thousands of residents and businesses. Sustainable Westchester says the program is due to shut down at the end of November, at which time Westchester Power customers will become Con Edison or NYSEG customers unless they have already signed up with another electric generation provider.
Sustainable Westchester said that the decision is due to New York state implementing new rules that govern community energy programs statewide, which impact all community Choice Aggregation administrators and their energy suppliers. Sustainable Westchester said it determined that continuing the program under the state’s regulatory framework is not feasible.
Sustainable is assuring its residential customers and small businesses within the 26 municipalities that have been served by Westchester Power that there will be no disruption to their electric service. It says customers will be returned to either Con Ed or NYSEG as their electric generating supplier, whichever they had before, in the first billing period after Nov. 30 unless they already have arrangements with another electric generating company.
Sustainable calculates that the Westchester Power program has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1.5 million metric tons, the equivalent of removing 35,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road.
Sustainable Westchester says that it will continue to work closely with member municipalities to expand participation in other clean energy programs that include GridRewards, Solarize, EnergySmart HOMES, Community Solar, and MOVE. It says it also will be exploring other ways to bring more use of clean energy to the region.
