Yorktown Takes Steps Toward Bulk Power Purchases

(March 30, 2022) – The Town Board has approved legislation that would allow the Town of Yorktown to opt into Sustainable Westchester’s Community Choice Aggregation program.

Westchester Power enables municipalities to purchase electricity in bulk for its residents and commercial businesses. Since launching last year, the Sustainable Westchester pilot program has reduced participating customers’ electric bills by about $10 each month.

“This is a realistic step that we can take as a municipality that will protect consumers from unpredictable rate hikes and, depending on future decisions of the Town Board, have significant environmental impacts by having our local energy produced by a green energy source,” said Supervisor Matt Slater.

If the Town Board decides to enroll in the program, the CCA enables Sustainable Westchester to become Yorktown’s default electricity provider, allowing it to buy electricity at a contracted fixed rate. Con Edison and NYSEG will continue to handle consumers’ billing and they will continue to deliver electricity, maintain power lines, and respond to service outages.

Customers in Yorktown are not obligated to participate in the program.

“You can opt in and out of this, which is a very nice feature,” said Councilman Tom Diana. “One thing to keep in mind is that if you ended up opting out towards the end of the billing cycle, it may be one more month that you’d be in the program.”

Approximately 115,000 county residents and small businesses are currently enrolled in the program.

“We’ve done our due diligence. This (action) is just enabling the legislation,” said Councilman Sergio Esposito.

According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the CCA allows local governments to work together through a shared purchasing model to put out for bid the total amount of electricity and/or natural gas being purchased by eligible customers within the jurisdictional boundaries of participating municipalities.

Eligible customers will have the opportunity to have more control to lower their overall energy costs and to spur clean energy investment.

Contact:  Yorktown Supervisor Matt Slater, 914-962-5722 x201 or mslater@yorktownny.org