Community Choice Aggregation upcoming option for Henrietta RG&E customers - RochesterFirst

Community Choice Aggregation upcoming option for Henrietta RG&E customers

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Starting in September, RG&E customers in Henrietta will have a new option for a power supplier, which could save money on electric bills. The state-run program is called ‘Community Choice Aggregation’ (CCA) which is something already established in several surrounding communities.

CCA allows towns, cities, villages have eligible residents and small businesses bargain for a better power supplier rate. In this case for Henrietta, it applies to RG&E customers, residents and small businesses, who have not selected a power supplier.

Monroe Community Power was formed in partnership with Joule Community Power, a division of Jule Assets, Inc. Here’s how it works: the CCA administrator (in Henrietta’s case, Joule Community Power, chooses the supplies source from an Energy services Company Operator (ESCO), which has been selected as Constellation New Energy. The CCA administrator then negotiates fixed rate power contracts on behalf of those communities.

Henrietta Town Supervisor Steve Shults estimates about 60-70% of folks in his community will qualify for this option.

“The fixed rate conventional is 0.03% above the current rolling average but if you look at the rates overall, they’ve been trending upward and so that’s locked in for 27 months starting this September. So I would guess that it’s probably the variable rates typically go up in the winter time when there’s more energy use and so I expect to see that climb above the fixed rate in January, at which point residents would save a lot of money on the fixed rate,” Shultz explains.

For those on a fixed income, it is an option to opt-out of the CCA initially, wait for the variable power supply rates to go above the fixed rate and then opt-in. That rate will remain locked in as of September for 27 months.

There will be several information sessions about these changes and options in the coming weeks. The first event is being held virtually on Monday, July 24th at 6:00 p.m. Zoom link: www.bit.ly/Henrietta7-24 or by phone at 646-558-8656, Meeting ID # 853 8653 5021

An in-person informational session will be held at the Henrietta Public Library on Wednesday, August 2nd at 6:30 p.m.

There is also a dedicated website set up by the Town of Henrietta to break down other pieces of what this program entails.