Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) was the topic of one of the public hearings held during the Hyde Park Town Board meeting on Aug. 31.
The CCA law would allow Hyde Park to choose a default electricity provider on behalf of the residents and businesses of the local area. The program was proposed by the town’s newly formed Climate Smart Communities Task Force headed up by Hyde Park resident Richard Mattocks.
With CCA, any resident who already has a contract to receive electricity from a third party energy supply company is unaffected and all residents will continue as a Central Hudson customer for the distribution of the energy to their homes and businesses – only the source of the electricity could change.
Hudson Valley Energy, a program of the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, also known as CEEP, is the program that Hyde Park would be joining. Joule Community Power, the state authorized administrator for CCA programs, administers the energy program.
Jeff Domanski, the program director of Hudson Valley Energy, shared a presentation about the CCA program.
“In a nutshell statement, this program is structured to save money while also providing 100 percent renewable electricity, which is not what an individual customer has had the ability to do prior to this program,” said Domanski.
According to Domanski, 80 percent of New York’s electricity is generated using nuclear power or fossil fuels.
Once the program launches, town residents will be notified by mail, They will also get a prepaid mailer if they want to opt-out of the energy program.
There will also be a hotline number, an online form and an email address that people can use to opt-out.
These options are also available for anyone to opt back in to the program at any time.
The complete presentation and Domanski’s contact information are available on the Hyde Park website.
“The opt-out is very easy and does not involve a cost,” said Hyde Park Town Supervisor Aileen Rohr.
However, Rohr acknowledges that this process can be confusing for people to understand. The town board unanimously agreed it is important to give residents an opportunity to look at the presentation and reach out to Domanski or a town board member for further information.
The public hearing will continue virtually at the Sept. 21 meeting of the town board.
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