Decision follows rescinding previous local law
By Hayleigh Gowans
Staff Writer
The Fayetteville Village Board voted Nov. 14 to adopt a local law that would allow the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program to occur in the village, an update to a previously passed local law that was rescinded in October.
The original local law that was passed by the village board Oct. 4 was rescinded due to complaints by a village resident about the village’s protocols during the process. A new public hearing on the local law was set for the Nov. 14 meeting.
Village Attorney Ted Spencer explained recently, the New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) created a local law for municipalities to use as a guide when considering a CCA program. Spencer used this as a model for the Fayetteville local law, which was adopted by the board with a vote of 4 to 1 at the Nov. 14 meeting.
The local law allows Good Energy, a provider of municipally-endorsed energy and natural gas who will carry out the CCA program, to collect data from village residents to determine if they can provide an energy and gas savings residential and small commercial accounts in the village. From there, if there is determined to be potential cost savings, a second wave of data collection will occur, then a period of community education on the matter and then Good Energy carrying out the program. A residents who wishes to not take part in the program and remain with their current provider must opt-out.
The CCS program is tied to NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program, explained Javier Barrios, a managing partner with Good Energy.
At the Nov. 14 public hearing, village resident David Vickers said he had concerns about the data collection aspect of the program, and how the data will be handled and by whom.
According to Barrios, the only information collected from residents will be their energy account numbers and electricity and gas usage, no personal information such as addresses or names. The village must also work with Good Energy to create a data protection plan, which must be approved by the New York Public Service Commission.
“The data protection plan is a vetting system that will stop just anyone from getting this date,” said Barrios.
Currently, National Grid is the default energy and gas supplier, though all residents have a choice in choosing a provider that meets their needs. Village resident Marguerite Ross said she had concerns about the village choosing a provider and does not want her usage data collected, so she contacted National Grid and they put a block on any data being collected from her account, something any consumer can choose to do.
One of the concerns Village Trustee Dennis Duggleby, who voted no on the local law, had with the program was that it was opt-out rather than opt-in, and that the village board was essentially making a consumer choice for residents.
According to Mayor Mark Olson, the city of White Plains, N.Y., was one of the first adopters of the program and found there to be a cost reduction of 21 percent in electricity costs for residents, and they were able to switch from brown to green energy. Olson said the mayor of White Plains reported only 95 percent of residents had opted-out of the program.
“We’re always looking for way to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Olson. “We’re not a reactive village, we’re proactive. It’s our job to look at ways to help our residents.”
Barrios said that despite passing the local law, the village board is able to stop the process at any time if they feel the CCA program is not a good fit for the village, and that residents have the ability to opt-out or into the program at any time.
To learn more about Fayetteville’s CCA program, go to fayettevilleny.gov.
