Nearly 5,000 Peekskill households previously enrolled in Sustainable Westchester’s clean energy program will now automatically return to Con Edison for their electricity supply.

Noah Bramson, the executive director of Sustainable Westchester, sent an email on Nov. 3 to municipal leaders in 23 communities, including Peekskill, with the decision to terminate its Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program. The program, called Westchester Power, had 145,000 residents and small businesses enrolled in 2023.

” … let me acknowledge that this news is deeply disappointing to our team and, no doubt, to municipal leaders who have supported the program for years, ” Bramson wrote. “We know this program has been a cornerstone of climate action, and its conclusion represents a setback in advancing clean energy goals across our region.” The program began in 2016.

Under CCA, once a municipality joins the program every utility customer is automatically enrolled. Individuals must complete a form and “opt-out” to be removed. The CCA buys power in bulk from renewable energy providers such as hydroelectric, wind and solar. Comparable prices of the renewable program versus Con Ed have varied over the years [see chart attached].

Sustainable Westchester explains its decision

In his email, Bramson said the organization couldn’t win approval from the state Public Service Commission for a renewal in November.

“Recent outreach and education requirements mandated by the State Public Service Commission – while grounded in important goals of transparency, consumer protection, and affordability that we fully share – have, in practice, presented significant implementation challenges for community energy programs like ours,” Bramson wrote. “Although our outreach and education activities in recent months have been, by far, the most extensive and robust in the program’s history, we are unable to obtain State authorization to launch the new contract on schedule.”

CCAs are required to clearly advise households how much they will pay for renewable energy compared to the traditional supplier, in the case of Peekskill, Con Ed. The CCAs must also do extensive outreach to explain how the program works and how to dis-enroll.

In an Oct. 17 letter to Sustainable Westchester, state PSC officials outlined numerous failures to follow state guidelines and refused to allow the program to go forward.

Regarding Peekskill, the PSC said Sustainable Westchester did not identify the “Default Product Offering” in Part 4 of a filing, did not verify flyers claimed to be sent out or an ad in the Peekskill Herald; sent images of ads that were too small to view; provided incorrect 12-month pricing information in a Journal News ad; and failed to send links to recorded virtual information meetings.

“In light of these deficiencies, the Cities of Peekskill and White Plains and the Town of Greenburgh are not approved to mail opt-out letters or begin the opt-out period,” the PSC letter states. “Upon correction of the identified deficiencies, Sustainable Westchester will need to file updated Municipality Filings. Staff review and determination will be provided within 15-business days of the updated filing being made.” 

The requirement to comply with the PSC standards must be completed by the CCA operator, Sustainable Westchester, and not the individual municipalities enrolled in the program.

PSC responds to Sustainable Westchester

A spokesperson for the PSC acknowledged last week that in  November 2024 rules for public outreach were enhanced to increase public understanding of the program.

“Sustainable Westchester submitted municipal filings in recent months for approval to renew its contracts for the Westchester Power CCA program that contained numerous deficiencies to the core outreach and education requirements, many of which have been in place for several years before the November 2024 action,” the PSC spokesperson said.

“Sustainable Westchester failed to meet basic outreach and education standards that are in place to protect ratepayers, including providing program participants with the correct price comparison information for how their bills would be increasing compared to the default utility. Sustainable Westchester made the decision to terminate its CCA program on its own following the rejection of its deficient municipal filings.”

A former outreach coordinator with Sustainable Westchester and environmental energy community activist said closing down Westchester Power is a setback.

“It wasn’t good news to hear,” Paul Presendieu of WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “We need to find a way to get renewable energy at a more affordable price. 

“Right now, to meet the state climate goals we have to be at 70% renewable by 2030 and time is running out. Programs like this are important because they allow access to renewables on the grid through transmission lines without any immediate onsite construction or development in close proximity.”

Presendieu said if Westchester Power succeeded in its bulk renewable energy program it could have provided a model for other counties in New York state as well as create a vision to localize energy production.

“I was hoping the program would continue to find a way for us to create our own local e

nergy grid. Could we look at Kensico Dam to create some of that electricity or offshore wind or geothermal? Another approach would be to see how we could create that grid in Westchester.”

In its November 2024 memo regarding changes to CCA requirements for public outreach, the PSC also began a process to examine the effectiveness of CCAs. 

“The program evaluation will inform the Commission as it considers whether the opt-out CCA program serves the public interest of mass market customers in New York State,” the PSC wrote. A request for proposals has been issued to hire a consultant to study the program. Staff of the PSC is now in the process of choosing a consultant from the responses.

Bramson listed several other programs that Sustainable Westchester will continue to operate including GridRewards, Solarize, EnergySmart Homes, the Clean Energy Accelerator and MOVE to Municipal Thermal Energy Networks in an effort to continue a proven model for regional collaboration.