Joule Helping 25,000 New York Households to Save Electricity Costs With RE

Joule Community Power has rolled out community choice aggregation programs to more than 25,000 households in seven communities in New York State.

Joule Assets, via Joule Community Power, has rolled out community choice aggregation (CCA) programs to more than 25,000 utility account holders in seven communities in the New York State.  The six towns that banded together to form Hudson Valley Community Power and the Town of Geneva, NY, through the Finger Lakes Community Choice aggregation, have all selected 100 percent renewable energy—at a fixed rate that is lower than the average utility rate for the previous year—as the default energy supply for their communities.

Joule is serving as the program administrator for both aggregations and partners with local program managers to provide local program support, education, and outreach in the communities.

In 2020, the firm expects three additional towns, with 6,500 homes, to join the Hudson Valley Community Power aggregation. It also plans to launch four new aggregations: Gateway Community Power, Monroe Community Power, Rockland Community Power, and aggregation in Long Island, NY. Currently, with 16 communities under contract, it is looking forward to administrating CCA programs for more than 190,000 total households in 25 communities by this time next year.

Joule Community Power Director Glenn Weinberg said, “Communities throughout New York State are leading the way in the clean energy transition. Joule’s programs help them get the most out of the powerful tools available to them to get the best deal for their residents and to drive local development of renewable energy.”

In 2019, offering yet another way to reduce both electricity costs and carbon gas emissions, Joule launched Geneva Community Power, community solar pilot program for NYSEG customers in NY’s Finger Lakes region and offered local solar to Central Hudson customers in New York Hudson’s Valley.

Unlike other community solar programs, Joule’s solar offering is designed to reward communities that support renewable generation by helping fund future local sustainability efforts. For the Geneva Community Power pilot program, funding of the “sustainability grant” was based upon reaching a threshold of 400 community solar subscribers. The town of Geneva opted to spend the money on projects that protect and preserve the quality of water in Seneca Lake. In the Hudson Valley, funds are allocated to communities based on actual enrolment numbers. By year-end 2019, more than 500 utility customers in the Hudson Valley, who consume more than 3,700 kWh of electricity annually, subscribed to community solar, earning their local communities upwards of USD 25,000 for future sustainability efforts.