New Paltz residents will again have hassle-free access to a source of renewable energy for their home electricity this summer. The Village of New Paltz is participating in the relaunch of the Hudson Valley Community Power electricity supply program that provides access to new default electricity supply options. With a new agreement in place, anyone who hasn’t signed a contract with a specific energy service company will get 100% renewable power for 12.24 cents per kilowatt hour, for the next two years through Direct Energy Services, LLC. That’s comparable to what customers are paying on the variable spot market as of this writing, but those customers are getting a mix of green, brown and black electricity at that rate. Moreover, the variable rate during “bumper” seasons when neither heat nor cooling are in high demand tend to be among the lowest during the year.
Anyone eligible for Community Choice Aggregation Program pricing has been enduring the vagaries of the spot market since last summer, when the leaders of Columbia Utilities reneged on their contractual obligations and forced residents back to that variable model. It’s still not clear if or how the vetting process for suppliers has been altered to prevent such an eventuality from befalling New Paltz residents again in the future.
All of this is made possible through community choice aggregation, a complicated-sounding term that hides an inordinately complex bureaucracy to ensure that residents can negotiate low rates, usually for more environmentally-friendly sources of electricity. A state law allowed for local municipal codes adopting this model, which requires going through an approved vendor to negotiate with energy suppliers. Jeff Damanski, a representative of the consortium of communities that now negotiates as a single unit, has now given “eco-action” awards to members of both the town and village boards for steps taken to address climate change. As with community choice aggregation, many of these steps were made possible through action of the state legislature, but local municipal leaders aren’t obligated to make the effort to follow through.
Mayor Tim Rogers agrees with the assessment that community choice aggregation is important for the climate impacts alone.
All eligible residents have been notified via letter in the mail of their options, choices, pricing and what to do if they don’t want to participate. To opt out, opt up/down, or opt in — fill out the form at www.hudsonvalleycommunitypower.com/secureform or call the program helpline at (845) 859-9099, ext. 2 or ext. 3 for Spanish.
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