Saugerties residents who signed up for cooperative electric power plans are enjoying lower prices than those who opted out, Supervisor Fred Costello said at the last Town Board meeting on March 16. About 80 percent of Saugerties residents signed up through a Joule Energy program, and they are receiving significant savings.
“Some of you may remember a letter you received last October telling you that you could enroll in a community aggregation energy plan,” Costello said. “Many folks were skeptical and questioning why we might do that. The idea was to create a third choice for us to buy electricity from. Given the spikes in electricity cost we are experiencing right now, even if you did opt out then, I would urge you to reconsider; the research is available for you to look at.”
Not only do customers save money by joining this plan, but the energy it provides is made from renewable sources, Costello said. “The Town is fortunate to have the Climate Action Committee in choosing Joule to be our administrator. They were the ones who put the contract together.”
Contractors with Joule\Energy went into the market and bargained on behalf of Saugerties and a number of other local communities, and negotiated significantly lower rates than Central Hudson’s rate. The rate ended up being 7.2 cents per kilowatt in contrast to the more than 12 cents per kilowatt rate being charged to folks who don’t have a contract.”
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