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 CON EDISON HOLDS SUSTAINABLE WESTCHESTER SUPPLY RATE FOR MOST CUSTOMERS IN JULY GOES UP NOW IN AUGUST

DELIVERY WIRES HUM KILLERWATTS AT 15 CENTS PER KILOWATT HOUR.

AC AT 80 DEGREES DOUBLES POWER BILL IN 90-IN-THE-SHADE-SUMMER

NO NEW SUSTAINABLE RATE YET FROM SUSTAINABLE WESTCHESTER.

GRID REWARDS PROGRAM INTRODUCED TO HELP CUSTOMERS SAVE POWER COSTS

WPCNR THE POWER STORY. By John F. Bailey. August 9, 2022

Power consumption hit an all-time high in the month of July  in Westchester County.

Inflation  forced customers to purchase less for necessities like gas and food who are now Buck-smacked with doubling power bills in soon to double once more if the heat keeps on coming.

Power bills doubled this past month of July for a Sustainable Customer directly attributable to 95 degree in the shade-plus average temperatures which have scorched Westchester for 9 days.

The air conditioning has been humming non stop and the Con Ed Delivery charges delivering the juice 24/7 at 15 cents a kilowatt hour purchased.

The Con Edison Media Relations Department confirmed to WPCNR today that the Sustainable Westchester Green Energy Rate of 7.48 cents per kilowatt hour was kept in effect on Sustainable Westchester customers, as well as I believe the Sustainable basic rate (non green exclusive sources).

 WPCNR asked Con Edison Media Relations why Con Edison did not charge a higher rate than 7.48 cents for Green Energy for Sustainable Westchester Customers (not matching the market rate for July, which in mid July a Con Edison consumer representative said was averaging 9 to 10 cents kilowatt hour.

A Con Edison spokesperson in a written state answered:

My question is: on my Con Ed bill the 7.48 cents green rate charged by Constellation Energy the previous Constellation supply charge is still in effect. — is this because Con Edison was able to supply electricity at a rate very close to the 7.48 rate and chose to honor the 7.48 cent an hour charged in June as a good will courtesy to Sustainable customers?  

Constellation New Energy was the supplier on the bill provided in your email. You will be a Con Edison full service customer on your next bill.

My second question is why is the “Delivery Charge” up to 14.9 cents?

The delivery rate reflects higher delivery charges in the summer months. Delivery rates are set by the New York Public Service Commission.

Sustainable Westchester asked to explain why the 7.48 cents/rate was still charged in July saving about $60, wrote in a statement:

“ The current contract expired on June 30th and as such depending upon folks billing cycle (meter reads) many (to most) will still see the Westchester Power rates (and Constellation) on their bills in July.

That said, most (to all participants) will see their August bills reflect Con Edison isupply and supply rates.

We cannot speak to the intel you received from ConEd that the kWh rate (once switched to them) will reflect and increase vs.the Westchester Power prior contract fixed-rate.

While that would be our educated guess, we cannot confirm that nor predict where their rates might go.

We do hope to be able to have something to share (and a contracted rate by September as you suggest). That said, we are not in a position to confirm that today.”

That being said, we do have news to share about our GridRewards program. The residential demand response program executed with our partners Logical Buildings has been particularly this summer with unprecedented high temperatures and the resulting demand on the grid.

Currently the approximate 2500 Westchester County Con Ed utility area enrolled residents are experiencing a 4-day streak of demand response events. The events provide an opportunity to reduce electricity demand, save energy and money and earn cash rewards for actions taken and overall performance. It surely has newsworthy potential — its environmental impact, ability to reduce usage and earn participants savings and cash is potentially important messaging for your viewers.

GridRewards is the first-of-its-kind residential demand response program in the NorthEast and was piloted in 2020 in partnership with us in Westchester County. You can learn a bit more here https://sustainablewestchester.org/gridrewards/ (on our website) as well as https://www.gridrewards.com/ (Logical Buildings website for the program).

Background:

That rate to create electricity for customers who are not members of the Sustainable Westchester power cooperative (White Plains is a member), is set based on an average of a month of Con Ed costs to buy or create the electricity. The delivery rate is dependent on the demand running through the system.

  Sustainable paused for a time to  resubmit Requests for Proposals for a new  flat rate going out perhaps one, two, or three years and hired the national leader in energy auctions to find Sustainable a rate that works to keep green energy competitive.

The electric supply companies Sustainable had gone to (apparently on their own not using again Transparent Energy Systems the negotiator of the previous contract), came back with rates that all were higher than last year regardless of the markets they were serving from the very small to the very large.

The pause was still going on , just  when Sustainable Westchester turned over its customers temporarily to Con Edison while it searched for a sustainable Kilowatthour price it could live with (and is still in the process of negotiating).

Meanwhile the cost of Con Edison delivering electricity through its systems soared to 15 cents a kilowatt hour. If you  have an airconditioning system or an window unit, keeping that full house zonal system on will still double your consumption of kilowatt hours in this relentless heat wave, even killing certain zones in your house you do not use.