Message from the Mayor: How to cut over to the new green electricity rate if you use an ESCo
Posted on: April 27, 2016 - 7:13pm
Fellow Residents;
A month ago, the Village agreed to adopt sustainable power provided by Con Edison Solutions as the default option for residents. That means that if you are a current user of the default Con Edison electricity, you will automatically cut over to the new, fixed sustainable rate on May 1st. This note is not for you. If you are, instead, currently getting your electricity supplied by an Energy Service Company (ESCo), you did NOT get a letter recently (like everyone who uses ConEd supply automatically did) explaining the new program and how you could opt out or select the other rate we are offering. (About a quarter of the village is serviced by ESCOs.) You may have even forgotten that you signed up for an ESCo. Check your bill – it will tell you on the Electricity Charges page, and your ESCo charges will be on the back page.
If you are supplied by an ESCo, you need to take a couple of extra steps to explore, and then “opt in” to the program if you decide to do so.
First: Decide if you want to participate. Hastings has negotiated a default fixed “green” rate of $0.07681 per kwh (kilowatt hour) which is composed of renewable energy. We have also made available a “brown” energy rate of $.07381 per kwh. You can compare that to your current energy price and supplier service on your ConEd bill, and decide if you want to make the move to the Hastings aggregate fixed rate program. (When comparing be sure to tally your most recent 12 months since the total supply charge varies month-to-month and the past few months may not accurately reflect the 12-month average supply charge.) Con Edison’s current average rate is $.0809 for the last year: both our new rates are better than this, and they are fixed for two years. Your ESCo may be lower or higher than this. If you decide you are interested in pursuing the option, here is what you do.
Next: Call your current energy provider (your ESCo). Their phone number is on your ConEd bill, likely on page 4 where is says “Your electricity supply detail” in bold type.
- Important: Ask them if there would be a penalty to you if you cancel your service. If you are on a fixed time period contract (like one year, or three months, etc.) there may be a significant penalty if you discontinue. Make sure you understand that before proceeding. Most people will be on a monthly variable price program, and those will likely have no cancellation penalty.
- If you decide to cancel your ESCo service, tell them to do that for you. They will set your cancellation in motion (they may also offer you different price program options for you to consider to stay with their service, which of course you can evaluate.)
- Note: If you already use Con Edison Solutions as your ESCo (like I do), you can cut directly over to the new green (or brown) rate in your call to them (at 1 888-437-1722).
Then you should call Westchesterpower at 855-492-7693 to tell them that you have already cancelled your current ESCo service, and that you want to “opt in” to the aggregate program. They will guide you through your options. Have your Con Edison account number handy for this call - it is at the very top of Page 1 of your bill.
That’s all you have to do. From there, behind the scenes, this will happen:
- If you have canceled with your current ESCo, your service will automatically have been transferred to ConEd (usually within 5 business days.) It will stay with ConEd until the end of your next billing cycle after the transfer is done (the date on your ConEd bill that says “Next Meter Reading date” on page 1).
- After that, because you already called Westchesterpower to “opt in”, your supply will be transferred to the aggregate fixed price program that you selected.
Remember, it is your choice to change from your existing ESCO and “opt in”. But we wanted to make sure you have the opportunity to do this if you are currently with an ESCo, because it is not as “automatic” as it was for those with ConEd supply who recently got letters.
Sincerely,
Mayor Peter Swiderski