Community Choice Aggregation Meeting Date: February 7, 2018
The NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities Program is a $16-million initiative to help local governments across the state reduce energy consumption and drive clean energy use in their communities. Local governments that complete four out of ten identified High Impact Actions will earn the Clean Energy Community designation and may have access to grant funding to implement additional clean energy projects. Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council is the Finger Lakes Region Clean Energy Communities Coordinator. For more information on the Clean Energy Communities Program please visit http://www.gflrpc.org/clean-energy-communities.html.
One of the ten High Impact Action Items is Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). The purpose of CCA is to allow participating local governments to procure energy supply service and distributed energy resources for eligible energy customers in the community. These customers will have the opportunity to opt out of the procurement, while maintaining transmission and distribution service from the existing Distribution Utility. Four municipalities in the Finger Lakes region have passed a CCA local law.
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, to spur clean energy innovation and investment, to improve customer choice and value, and to protect the environment, thereby fulfilling an important public purpose.
This meeting was scheduled to give interested municipalities a chance to discuss Community Choice Aggregation and the impact for their community. Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council is the Clean Energy Communities Coordinator for the Finger Lakes Region. Rochester People’s Choice Coalition (RPCC) is a grass-roots non-profit organization working to advance a transition to renewable energy at a local level in the greater Rochester and surrounding area. RPCC is also partnering with Joule Assets in to provide administrative and public outreach services to the area for CCA. Glen Weinburg attended the meeting representing Joule Assets along with representatives from RPCC. Together, they provided an update on local CCA activity and an overview of the proposed path forward.
