New York To "Actively Explore" Municipal Aggregation 2.0; Plan Also Suggests Better Publication of ESCO Complaint Data On Power To Choose

New York State's recently released energy plan says that the state will "actively explore" municipal aggregation

Noting a Westchester municipal aggregation pilot approved by the PSC, the energy plan states, "The State will also actively explore a more advanced form of CCA [community choice aggregation], often referred to as CCA 2.0, wherein municipalities would take a proactive role, in partnership with their local utility, in planning and designing community-scale deployment of distributed energy resources, as well as implementing collective energy procurement strategies."

The plans sees municipal aggregation as aiding, "members of EJ [Environmental Justice] communities," in benefiting from electric competition.

"To overcome the major impediments preventing members of EJ communities from benefitting from potential electricity savings through retail choice, local governments and community-based organizations (with government funding and encouragement) could take leadership roles in negotiating lower prices or better terms with ESCOs. This could be facilitated and encouraged under PSC's Aggregation Programs," the plans says

"Local governments and community-based organizations would be in a better position to develop the expertise to negotiate the best possible terms and conditions more readily than an individual customer," the report states

The plan also suggests improvements to the New York Power to Choose site

"Most beneficial would be a directly comparable bill calculator, which would allow customers to make informed and transparent decisions about their ESCO selection. For example, the calculator could provide the past twelve months rate information for the ESCO and delivery utility, and it should be a side-by-side comparison with the selected ESCOs," the plan states

"To improve transparency, reporting the number of initial and escalated complaints for each ESCO and whether any legal actions have been taken against the company in the online tool would help customers make informed decisions," the plan states

Certain ESCO complaint data is linked from menus on NY Power to Choose, but opens in a new window and not in the ESCO price list

Link to NY Energy Plan