By Tom Bartley
For The Somers Records
Homeowners could see smaller utility bills if local government negotiated the prices for gas and electricity, a proposed state law promises—and Somers agrees.
The Town Board has called for passage of separate measures, now pending in the state Senate and Assembly, to establish a five-year pilot program of so-called “community-choice aggregation.”
The legislation would give Somers and other Westchester municipalities broad authority to negotiate with independent energy suppliers for gas and electric rates lower than those of traditional utility companies, which charge customers not only for the energy but also its distribution.
An aide to Sen. Greg Ball, who is sponsoring the bill in the state Senate, said it is unclear when the legislation will come up for a vote.
Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy said the proposed law would “give communities the choice to say, ‘Everyone in our town is buying their electricity through this provider,’ and whoever comes in with the best deal, that’s who everyone in the town will buy their electricity from, unless they opt out.”
The idea is backed by the Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium (NWEAC). An NWEAC official outlined the legislation’s aims at a special Sept. 26 Town Board meeting.
The utility-rate discussion capped a wide-ranging presentation to the board by the Somers Energy Environment Committee (SEEC), which supports the plan. Herb Oringel, who heads the town energy panel, also chairs NWEAC, a coalition of 16 northern Westchester communities striving, among other things, to increase energy efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Oringel described the utility plan, formally known as community-choice aggregation, as “a wonderful program to reduce energy costs for the municipality and for homeowners as well.”
Mike Gordon, a Lewisboro resident and member of the NWEAC executive board, and SEEC member Michael Blum of Somers, led the discussion of aggregation, a concept that’s now law in six states.
“Illinois has 500 municipalities doing it, all in the last year and a half,” Gordon told the board. In that time, he said, the participating municipalities have seen a 25 percent drop in their energy bills, but that Illinois is the exception rather than the rule. “I don’t expect anywhere near that much,” he said.
The idea’s appeal is simple and straightforward: by combining residents’ purchasing-power, a municipality—or a group of them, like NWEAC—could negotiate lower utility rates with today’s aggressive energy retailers.
“There is no downside,” Blum said.
In Somers, competing companies would have to guarantee in writing that their bids represented lower rates than New York State Electric &Gas or, in some cases, Consolidated Edison, charges. NYSEG and Con Ed would continue to deliver the services and bill for them, but at rates reflecting the lower purchase price of the gas and electricity supplies.
Energy-service companies, called ESCOs, already solicit individual utility customers with promises of lower costs for electric supply, which NYSEG would continue to distribute.
Despite the talk of savings, however, only about one customer in five statewide has chosen to take an ESCO up on the offer. By contrast, under the pilot program, Somers could promise to deliver most of the town’s potential customers to the lowest-bidding ESCO. The program would exclude individual residential and small-business customers that chose not to participate or that already buy from an ESCO.
At the meeting Town energy committee’s Blum said, “Tonight, we’re talking about support that will enable us to demonstrate to the [state legislature] that we have municipal support for this mission.”
After the vote, Supervisor Murphy said, “When this legislation passes, and should the town decide it wants to avail itself of the...opportunities presented by the legislation, at that point we’re going to have to have a very thorough public discussion.”
Somers Crossing
While utility rates held the Town Board’s attention most of that night, by last week a downtown rezoning request had once gain returned to center stage.
The Town Board renewed consideration Thursday night of issues that should be included in an environmental review of the proposed Somers Crossing development.
The project would put 60 townhomes, a grocery store and nursing facility on 27 acres behind Somerstown Center, necessitating creation of a unique downtown zoning classification that would permit mixed uses on the same development site.
Meeting for the third time with Planning Board members to define the state-mandated review’s scope, the Town Board discussed an aquifer adjoining the site and traffic that an envisioned grocery store would generate.
In a joint meeting Sept. 24, the boards heard from consultants brought in to study the rezoning’s impact on traffic as well as on sites of archeological and historical significance.
State law requires the agency leading an environmental review—in this case, the Town Board—to take into account the “interests and concerns” of other involved agencies in defining the scope of an environmental impact statement. The Town Board is expected to complete the scoping document within 60 days of a developer—in this case, Gus Boniello—filing his application.
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