The Fayetteville Village Board Monday night voted to rescind its recently approved local law to allow energy aggregation company Good Energy to collect energy data from residents to see if the company could bring its product to the village as a way to lower electricity bills. Instead, the board will hold a new public hearing on a “refashioned” version of the same law at its next regular meeting.
The action, taken unanimously by the board upon advice of the village attorney, was rooted in complaints by a village resident about the village’s protocols when the board passed the original local law on Oct. 4, said Village Attorney Ted Spencer.
No details on the citizen complaints or the contents of the refashioned law could be obtained prior to press time.
Good Energy is a provider of municipally-endorsed energy savings for natural gas and electricity that recently was allowed by the state to bring its Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program to municipalities in New York. According to the Good Energy website, benefits of the CCA program include: long-term fixed energy pricing; predictable monthly energy expenses; protection against volatile seasonal prices; and support for sustainability-driven community goals and initiatives.
In addition to Fayetteville, Minoa and Manlius have either passed or are considering legislation to allow the company to access data from the villages to make a determination if they will be able to lower gas and electricity bills for residents. If a savings is found, another round of data collection will occur, followed by a community education campaign carried out by Good Energy.
If a village board decides to move forward with the program, residents in the village will receive a letter that will give them information on how to opt-out of the program, which they must do in 30 days or they will be automatically switched to the new energy provider.
The Fayetteville village board unanimously voted Monday, Oct. 24, to rescind the previous local law and to schedule a new public hearing on the proposed CCA program during its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14.
