After a contentious rollout, the Sustainable Westchester (Westchester Power) energy program has been serving many residents in Yonkers since March of 2022. With over nine months of data gathered from residents across the city, we examine the history, efficacy, and future of this consumer-focused green energy initiative.
There is a state-wide push to increase renewable energy production and lessen the reliance on fossil fuels like natural gas. Beyond large investments like the Green Jobs Bond Act, some local governments have formed together to buy energy in bulk from renewable sources. This is similar, but not identical to an ESCO. An ESCO is a private Energy Service Company that allows individual customers to choose their energy supplier over their local provider (e.g. Con Edison). The Sustainable Westchester program is a non-profit collection of various cities, towns, and villages across the county which pools together a commitment to then auction ESCO’s for the best supplier. The ultimate goal is to provide a comparable or lower fixed-rate cost while ensuring the use of renewables like hydroelectric, wind, and solar.
“The goal of the Westchester Power program is to be able to deliver consumer choice, a positive environmental impact and access to renewable energy at competitive rates.”
Nina Orville, Executive Director of Sustainable Westchester
The Energetic Debate in Yonkers
Sustainable Westchester has been active in Westchester county for six years. Mayor Mike Spano first announced the intent for Yonkers to join this program in February 2021. Many on the city council welcomed this move and the motion to adopt quickly passed on March 9th with a 5:2 vote split down party lines. Council Member John Rubbo of the fourth district was vocal in his support and held information sessions on the program.
Other members, like Republican Anthony Merante, were more skeptical. Merante took issue with the automatic opt-in nature of the program. For a program like this to work and provide a lower cost, it must commit to buying a massive amount of energy. The strategy by Yonkers and other governments is to automatically enroll all of its residents into the program. This ensures this massive energy-buying commitment. Despite the information sessions held by the council and program’s director, most residents were unaware of this impending change. Notification mailers were delivered to homes across the city, but most assumed they were junk and tossed them straight into the garbage bin. Due to this, Merante forged a mini-crusade to educate his constituents on the program and urge them to opt-out.
Many did just that. Residents either contacted Sustainable Westchester or put a lock directly on their ConEd account. With the initial battle over, the remaining majority of Yonkers residents were enrolled in the program for its activation on March 2022.
How the costs vary
The program ultimately buys energy from the Constellation ESCO. That was the winner of the aforementioned auction and what shows on your ConEd bill. There are two options for supply: the default fully renewable at 8.978 cents per kWh and the standard supply at 7.512 cents. Your ConEd utility bill is broken down into the supply rate and the delivery rate. The delivery rate is the fee that ConEd charges everyone for the infrastructure and maintenance to power your home. The supply rate is the variable cost for the actual energy – and that is what is now under Sustainable Westchester/Constellation’s contract.
Real World Energy Comparisons in Yonkers
We spoke with a handful of residents across the city that opted-out of the program. Some live in single-family homes and others in apartments. We reviewed their energy usage since the program’s inception in March 2022 and ran a projection on what they could have paid under the Sustainable Westchester program’s flat rates. Below is an example of one such calculation.
In the above table each month is in its own row with the corresponding electricity usage in kilowatt hours (kWh) in the first column. The second column is the supply rate that ConEd billed that month and the multiplied sum is their total cost for supply. The last two columns represent what that total supply cost would have been under Sustainable Westchester. The first being the fully renewable and the second the standard supply rate that Sustainable Westchester offers. Over the nine month period, this customer could have saved up to 25% on supply charges.
The above example is very simple and discrete. However, ConEd now offers variable time of use rates which can make things more complicated. For example, one customer reported their 8am-midnight peak rate in September was 9.0769 and 8.3860 off-peak. Unless you are consuming a lot of power at night, like charging an electric vehicle, then over 90% of your energy usage is likely happening during the more expensive peak hours. And it is in these hours where ConEd has proven to always be markedly more expensive than the Sustainable Westchester flat rate.
Therefore, the contract Yonkers negotiated last year has provide a measurable benefit for those currently enrolled. Energy rates due to lingering COVID supply chain issues and Russia’s war against Ukraine have sky-rocketed costs globally. ConEd has then been passing that cost on to you, its end customer. As you can see in the sample chart above, ConEd varies it rates each month to match the market. For almost every month, their supply rate has been higher than the fixed-rate from Sustainable Westchester in Yonkers.
The Future of the Sustainable Westchester Program
While this recent analysis bodes well for the program, for how long these savings will last is a serious concern.
In June 2022, the broader Sustainable Westchester contract had expired for many participating municipalities. Due to the volatility in the energy markets, the entire service was paused. However, the City of Yonkers has its own independent contract with Sustainable Westchester and its customers were therefore not affected. This greater county-wide contract was soon renewed and a new rate took effect on November 1, 2022. For communities like Greenburgh, the new rate has greatly increased to 15.128 cents/kWh for fully renewable and 13.364 cents/kWh for the standard supply. These rates run through the duration of their contract ending Oct 31 2024. Despite these eye-popping numbers, Dan Welsh, Sustainable Westchester’s Program Director, attempted to assuage customers saying that the program was “staying at the lowest end of comparable offerings, as the program has done consistently in the past.”
The current contract for the City of Yonkers ends on November 30, 2023. We have reached out to Sustainable Westchester to discuss the new contract but have not yet received a reply. It is unknown if the new contract rate for Yonkers will be similarly exorbitant and the one in Greenburgh. But for now, in Yonkers, the program has proved to live up to its promise.
