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See email below from Sustainable Westchester… The Westchester Power Electricity Supply offer in Con Edison territory has been on a temporary hiatus during the summer months, following the expiry of the most recent contract on June 30, 2022. We are pleased to announce that the new supply offer will be available as of November 1, 2022.Yesterday we communicated this information to our municipal contacts in the program’s 24 participating municipalities (except Yonkers, which is on a separate contract). We are making you aware of this activity in the event that your offices receive calls from constituents. The New ContractThe new contract has been awarded to Constellation New Energy for a two year term beginning November 1, 2022 to October 31, 2024 with rates as follows: 100% Renewable Supply: 15.128 cents/kWh Standard supply: 13.364 cents/kWh Marketplace conditions, driven by global events (e.g., the war in Ukraine), have resulted in the price of natural gas, the primary driver for the electricity market, more than tripling in just a year and a half. Market volatility and rate uncertainty necessitated a brief pause in the Westchester Power electricity service upon the lapse of the previous contract that expired on June 30, 2022. We went into the bid on 7/20/2022 carrying the collective trepidation of all of our experience with this volatile market over the past year – The first part of the year saw Con Edison utility rates as high as 17 cents and averaging over 11 cents through June. Natural gas prices (the most critical driver for the electricity market) have tripled over the past year, and after taking a tiny breather a couple of weeks back, were starting to push up again. Market rates for renewable energy from the major ESCOs going into bidding day ranged from a low of 16.12 cents to well over 18 cents. In an environment of rising rates, though high by recent historical standards, these contract rates can be considered to be a cap for your residents to protect them from utility rates that many expect to hit unprecedented highs this winter. As always, residents are free to opt-out or rejoin the program at any time. What’s Next This week we are holding the first round of public Westchester Power information sessions about the resumption of the supply offer. You are welcome to attend or contact us with any questions about the program. We will hold a session on 9/2 (previous sessions were held on 8/31 and 9/1). For promotional/organizational purposes these will target regional groupings (Upper Rivertowns, Lower Rivertowns, Sound Shore, Central County), but for participants’ convenience we invite those who can’t make the group sessions associated with their municipality to join any session. Sustainable Westchester has published the zoom links for these sessions on our website and has been posting details today on our social media platforms. Please visit sustainablewestchester.org/wp/conedterritory#events to see the full calendar of sessions.Press outreach is slated for the upcoming week. Further community outreach to continue into September/October during the notification and opt out period, including the receipt of the official notification letter in the mail to eligible participants. We will be in touch further to share more information on these next steps in the coming week. The program rates of 15.128 cents per kWh for 100% NYS renewable supply and 13.364 cents for standard supply will be fixed from November 1, 2022 until meter read dates in November 2024. The program notification letter shall be mailed to participating residents later in September. We recognize that the new rates, reflecting changes in the market, are substantially higher than those of the previous contract. While higher electricity rates will be a challenge for many residents, the Westchester Power program’s fixed rates serve as a price cap in these volatile times. Residents may opt out or back in to the supply at any time, as well as select the standard supply if they choose. Sustainable Westchester’s GridRewards™ program provides an opportunity for Con Edison customers to sign up for the free app, connect to their Con Edison accounts and save energy, money and take simple energy actions during demand response events to earn cash reward payments. We’re pleased that we are back on track with the electricity supply offer. This signals the resumption of this important contribution to greenhouse gas mitigation, and also re-establishes this platform for continued advancement of Westchester’s clean energy transition. It also signals our collective readiness for programming and funds which will start to flow out of the new Federal and State budget allocations in this sector. |