By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

The town of Cicero is hoping to shave a few dollars off its electricity costs, and residents could benefit as well. The Cicero Town Board voted March 28 to allow Good Energy to collect information about the town’s demographics and energy usage.

Under the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, Good Energy — an energy consulting and management company with offices in five states — will research possible energy savings for Cicero residents and small businesses. CCA allows program administrators like Good Energy to negotiate energy prices in bulk for multiple municipalities.

The villages of Fayetteville and Minoa recently signed onto Good Energy’s first CCA venture in New York, which groups them with the village of Coxsackie and the towns of Cairo and New Baltimore in the Capital District. The New York State Public Service Commission has approved other CCA programs administered by Municipal Electric and Gas Alliance (MEGA) and Joule Assets.

Javier Barrios, managing partner for Good Energy, said a CCA “evens the playing field for residential customers” and garners energy savings that only large industrial companies have been able to negotiate.

Good Energy: Cicero has more buying power than SU

Good Energy Managing Director Edward Carey said New York is the seventh state to adopt a CCA program. According to the New York State Public Service Commission, Good Energy has managed CCA programs for 60 communities across the nation, negotiating energy prices on behalf of 400,000 households and providing 3.3 billion kWh each year.

“The average home has between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet of buying power. You don’t have that much buying power,” Carey said. “If you all come together as one, you have tremendous buying power. Your buying power … is greater than Syracuse University, right up the road.”

Barrios said utility delivery companies such as National Grid would continue to handle billing and maintenance services.

“Your utility still is your utility,” he said. “So if there’s any tree limbs that need to be cut down, if there’s any electrical problems, if there’s any brownouts or blackouts, you have the same 800 number that you call on your bill. That’s key.”

Cicero’s resolution only authorizes data collection. Should Good Energy find the community a good candidate for purchasing energy in bulk, Good Energy will facilitate public outreach, coordinate requests for proposal and support renewable energy projects such as solar power, hydroelectricity and distributed energy resources.

That support could come in handy for the town’s goals of promoting solar power. Town Supervisor Mark Venesky said the town has “not abandoned our quest to bring solar energy to Cicero.” In September 2017, Knossos Solar withdrew its site plan application for a 20-acre solar farm near the Manlius town line.

While residents would automatically be signed up, they can opt out of the program without penalties as there is no contract, Carey said.

Residents question CCA savings

Resident Laurance Petersen expressed his concerns about the CCA at the public hearing following Good Energy’s presentation. He said New Yorkers already have a plethora of energy service companies (ESCOs) to choose from and the idea of CCA programs is a ploy by the Public Service Commission to push ESCOs out of business.

“With all these choices, why do we need an administrator and a new program?” Petersen said. “The PSC has created this plan to essentially leverage communities to kick out the ESCOs.”

Petersen said the program is too new to show any evidence of savings.

Venesky said according to Comptroller Shirlie Stuart’s calculations, the town could save $10,612.72 per year on municipal electricity and gas use. This does not count residents’ energy use.

“All we’re doing is we’re allowing this company to shop [energy prices] based on the law. … We are not committing ourselves or you to anything,” Venesky said. “Why would we not entertain a savings of $884 a month? It’s your money.”

Resident Ray Schader questioned Good Energy’s savings as well.

“National Grid says they do not make anything on the [supply of] gas and the electric. They buy gas and electric for the whole New England, New York state [area],” Schader said. “Why can you buy it [for] less than they do?”

Carey said National Grid is “tagged to a tariff rate,” so Good Energy is looking for bidders underneath that rate. Barrios said Good Energy could secure a fixed rate per kilowatt hour.