Going green has a price tag
March 28, 2024 at 2:46 a.m.
In 2023, when monthly utility bills were coming in at the $300 range, Dick Hubert didn’t bat an eye.
But as the last few consecutive months produced payment demands of $600, it hurt.
“We have a small condo, my wife and I,” said Hubert, a Doral Greens resident who is notably also a regular columnist in this newspaper. “We leave the lights off often, we’re energy saving a group as you can find. Where is this coming from?”
Notably, he refers to the total utility bill that includes electric, gas and delivery charges. He was eager to take action when he discovered at least one of those fees had room for flexibility—if he moved to switch from Westchester Power to Con Edison.
“If our rates are 50 percent higher than Con Edison, and summer is coming up, I want to get out of that thing,” Hubert said. “It’ll save me hundreds.”
Since a new contract regarding electricity rates was signed in November 2022, the Rye Brook residents who haven’t opted out of their enrollment in Westchester Power as a supplier of their residence’s electricity are, compared to the Con Edison alternative, paying the price. Though, it’s a cost that may be worth it for some if contributing to a green community is a priority.
“We’ve had a handful of questions and comments come up,” said Rye Brook Village Administrator Christopher Bradbury. “A lot of the calls are about the electric rates, which did go up, and we always tell people we’re in the Westchester Power program, but they do have the option to go to Con Edison. It’s a voluntary program, and if they leave, they can always come back.”
Westchester Power is a program offered through Sustainable Westchester, a non-profit that was “created by and for the municipalities of Westchester,” described the organization’s Executive Director Noam Bramson. Representing a coalition of communities, it aims to advocate for environmental initiatives and healthy practices by providing resources and programming to its members.
Westchester Power is one of those programs it provides, though Bradbury noted the partnership doesn’t start or end there. The Village has participated in several Sustainable Westchester initiatives over the years, such as solar programs and Clean Energy Communities Campaigns.
There are 44 municipalities partnered with Sustainable Westchester, including the county itself. And 29 of the communities partake in the Westchester Power program, 27 of which opted to take part in the green supply program, including Rye Brook.
Westchester Power, forming as a Community Choice Aggregation energy program in 2016, becomes the default electricity supplier for participating municipalities that differs from the alternative of Con Edison by providing a fixed rate on electricity fees as opposed to a variable rate that swings with the market month to month.
The coalition model gives them a power in numbers edge when negotiating contracts.
“When you look at an electric bill, it’s important to distinguish between delivery and supply. It’s on the supply side that Westchester Power operates. Delivery is always the utility company’s responsibility,” Bramson said. In Rye Brook, Con Edison handles delivery. “The idea is, municipalities join together to bundle electricity demand, and that aggregated demand strengthens the bargaining position.”
When municipalities partner to make Westchester Power the default supplier, they can choose to go with the standard supply or 100% renewable supply options—Rye Brook is in the majority picking the latter.
“The goals are really threefold. The first and most important is to provide clean energy, and by that standard, the program has been a dramatic success,” Bramson said. “In 2023 alone, the program mitigated 270,000 tons of carbon dioxide. That’s like taking 60,000 cars off the road.”
“There’s a lot of great things happening across the county, like greening transportation fleets, weatherizing buildings and putting in LED streetlights,” he continued. “But this program is doing more to cut greenhouse gas emissions than all other parts combined.”
The second goal, however, has always been about consumer agency—to give residents more options in determining utility suppliers. Before Westchester Power was established, consumers had to rely on Con Edison or contract with private energy service companies, or ESCOs, which can be a complicated process to navigate and can be prone to deceiving tactics, he said.
From the Village of Rye Brook’s perspective, providing options to residents has always been a driver, Bradbury said. Residents are always able to opt out of the program and go with Con Edison or a private supplier at any time and can do so with no fees or penalties.
“The last goal is to cap electricity costs,” he said. “Prices can never exceed the contract level. We know utility rates can vary wildly month to month,” Bramson said. “So, this provides stability and predictability, while giving the consumer the option to get out anytime. There’s infinite flexibility.”
Sustainable Westchester has always maintained that cost savings are not guaranteed through the program, and the fixed rate has shown to be financially disadvantageous over the last year.
The current Westchester Power two-year contract that awarded Constellation New Energy as the region’s electricity supplier went into effect in November 2022. The negotiation ultimately fixed renewable energy prices at 15.449 cents per kilowatt hour—a rate higher than ideal due to assumptions at play at the time.
At that point, Bramson explained, the War in Ukraine was bringing volatility to the energy market. “The consensus in the field was prices would go higher,” he said. But that was not the reality that came to fruition. “Instead, they moved in the opposite direction, so the fixed rate ended up higher than the typical utility rate.”
Over the last year, the Con Edison electricity rates have varied from 7.85 to 12.94 cents per kilowatt hour. A Mar. 20 report in The Journal News suggested that Westchester Power customers have paid a total of $48 million more than the counterpart group.
“What residents have to decide is if they like the stability of a fixed rate, plus the green energy options, versus the ability to reduce costs by going back to Con Edison,” Bradbury said. “Those are choices an individual has to make. It is green energy, and for some people that’s very important.”
Bramson added it’s important to look at the bigger picture. Historically, in prior contracts, the Westchester Power renewable and standard energy supply were comparable to the Con Edison rates. “The number of months and years we’ve been above and below Con Edison are roughly equal,” he said.
For example, August 2016 to February 2019 saw Con Edison rates mostly being higher than Westchester Power, but after that, until November 2020, the utility company offered lower prices.
Bramson expressed optimism going into the next contract negotiation. “Those unique circumstances are highly unlikely to impact the next contract,” he said. “The change in energy markets strongly suggests we’ll be able to secure a better rate, but we haven’t entered the bidding process yet, so we can’t site a specific number.”
Some communities, news reports suggest, are contemplating their continued involvement with Westchester Power. Bradbury said the Village of Rye Brook will see how it’s going later in the year when a new contract comes to the table.
“Any time a contract renews is a time to consider whether it should renew or not,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see what they do, then the Board of Trustees will look and consider how they want to continue.”
In Rye Brook, as of February of this year, there were 2,235 Westchester Power residential accounts, Bramson said. Because the number is fluctuating on an ongoing basis, he said it’s difficult to assess how many households have opted out.
Anyone who wishes to opt out can also re-enter the program whenever they’d like. To switch electricity suppliers, go to sustainablewestchester.org/wp/conedenergychoices/.
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