Yorktown Launches Two Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Programs
The Town of Yorktown is launching a joint campaign to promote two renewable energy and energy efficiency programs - Sustainable Westchester’s Community Solar and Grid Rewards programs. Residents (renters and homeowners) and eligible organizations and businesses can lower energy costs, lock in a cashback reward opportunity for next summer, reduce their carbon footprint, and reduce the community’s reliance on fossil fuel-based energy.
Both Community Solar and GridRewards are available to residents - renters and homeowners - and eligible organizations and businesses. The programs are voluntary, have no cost to join or cancel and they provide an opportunity to lower your carbon footprint and, for GridRewards, teach you about your energy-use patterns to help lower electricity use and costs. Community Solar is available for those who use NYSEG or ConEd as their utility. GridRewards is only available to ConEd customers at this time.
Yorktown Supervisor Matt Slater said, “Our community is proud of our strong partnership with Sustainable Westchester and we are excited about these two campaigns. Yorktown is proud to stand as a regional leader in renewable energy initiatives such as Community Solar and the GridRewards program. Both will help make our local grid more resilient.”
Community Solar enables people to subscribe to a large solar installation located in their utility service territory. Energy produced by the solar farm is delivered to the electric grid and subscribers receive a credit on their electricity bill, representing the value of their share of the energy produced. Subscribers then pay the owner of the solar farm a discounted amount for that solar credit resulting in savings of up to 10% off the entire electricity bill. Residents who already have solar on their property, however, are not eligible for Community Solar.
Yorktown’s previous community solar campaigns led to an astounding 350+ community members - including the Town of Yorktown’s electricity accounts - joining the program to save on their electricity bills, support local solar farms, and reduce their own carbon footprint.
GridRewards empowers eligible Con Edison utility customers in Westchester County to earn cash rewards by participating in demand response events, during periods of peak usage in the summer months. GridRewards, a free app that connects to one’s Con Edison account, is a powerful tool to help participants learn about their energy consumption, make an overall positive environmental impact by reducing their usage and carbon footprint, and in turn realize money savings all year long. Those that sign up to GridRewards now will be automatically enrolled in the Summer 2022 demand response period and ready to begin to earn cash rewards then -- in the meantime, the app can help participants reduce energy and save money on monthly bills.
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To learn or sign up for the Sustainable Westchester Community Solar program, we encourage interested community members to go to SustainableWestchester.org/Solar or call Sustainable Westchester at 914.242.4725 ext. 112 or email communitysolar@sustainablewestchester.org.
To learn or sign up for the Sustainable Westchester GridRewards program, we encourage interested community members to go to SustainableWestchester.org/GridRewards to download the GridRewards App (via the Google Play or Apple Store, then connect your registered ConEd online account username and password in the app) as well as view Frequently Asked Questions, see the sign-up tutorial video.
