Commitment To Clean Energy

Since 2016, the Westchester Power Community Energy program has helped municipalities in Westchester County leverage the collective power of its residents to control costs and provide insurance against fluctuations in electricity supply through competitively priced and fixed-rate bulk purchasing, while also leading the transition to renewable energy in the State through Westchester Power’s 100% Renewable energy as the primary product subscription of most participants.

In 6 years of operation, Westchester residents and businesses have mitigated the emission of about 1,100,000 metric tons of CO2 through their decision to support renewable energy via Westchester Power. This is equivalent to taking roughly 293,000 cars off the road for one year.

Fast Facts

• Effective July 1st, participants who receive either the 100% Renewable or Standard electricity supply offering through the Westchester Power in the Con Edison utility territory will begin reverting to the default Con Edison electricity supply. Your electricity WILL NOT be shut off.
• This change DOES NOT APPLY to Yonkers residents.
• You will receive a mailing notice from Sustainable Westchester about this change sometime in May.
• On this page you will find information on the program background and explanation for this pause. You may reach out anytime with questions by email at: westchesterpower@sustainablewestchester.org.
• Helpful links:
  • Template notification letter for Con Edison territory participants regarding the program pause
  • Program FAQs
  • Current rates and historical perspective

What To Know and What You Can Do

As an affected participant of this pause, be advised that you will receive a notification in the mail from Sustainable Westchester in May, detailing the program pause and your subsequent transfer into Con Edison’s electricity supply.

We do not currently know when program services will restart. At such a time when services return, you will receive a re-enrollment letter informing you about the restart of the program with the new supply rates, associated term dates, and your enrollment options.

Westchester Power Basics

• It’s a program that allows local governments to procure electricity, gas, and other services on behalf of their residents and small businesses
• This is only an electricity SUPPLY program. Participants are still customers of their utility company who continue to be responsible for energy distribution, infrastructure maintenance and billing of customers
• Westchester Power hosts auctions among qualified Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and awards supply contracts through this competitive bidding process
• Enrollment is on an “opt-out” basis- you receive a notification letter with all the program details, and are enrolled unless you say you do not want to be. Participants can exit (or change supply option https://sustainablewestchester.org/wp/energy-choices/) at any time with no fee

A Community
Energy Platform

The large scale of the program enables us to attract new opportunities for increased environmental impact and potential savings. These include:

Community Solar – You can help put more clean energy on the grid and save money at the same time by subscribing to a large solar farm through Sustainable Westchester’s Community Solar program. Currently, participation requires a separate signup process and a two bill system (your electric bill and a separate solar credits bill). NY State has required Con Ed and other utilities to include Community Solar on the electric bill, which means that the program will be able to deliver solar discount credits directly without a separate bill.

Let’s Talk Clean Energy

Why clean energy? By now, everyone has heard of climate change, but it’s not always easy to make the connection to our daily lives. Our energy choices are, however, linked to many of the most serious challenges that we face these days, as well as the question of what kind of future we leave our children.

Most of our electricity is still generated by burning fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. This has contributed to our environment’s degradation, increasing temperatures and local effects such as more frequent higher intensity storms and changes in seasonal patterns. Here’s a short video about the greenhouse effect which is responsible for this problem.

Our energy choices and COVID 19

Studies are showing that areas with higher levels of pollution see worse outcomes from COVID 19. Many observers have pointed out the similarities in the challenges since both require collective, long-term action to solve.

Sea Level Rise

Over the past century, the Hudson has risen about a foot due to global warming (see this Scenic Hudson article), threatening households and habitats. This map shows how the Yonkers waterfront may fare over this century. We can reduce the impact and costs by taking strong action to reverse the growth of greenhouse gases.