Delivery rates will go down in Year 1

Central Hudson’s delivery rates will go down in Year 1 – but your bills will still go up

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CLP worked hard, with our allies PULP (Public Utilities Law Project) and AGREE (Alliance for a Green Economy), to defend ratepayers during the recent Central Hudson rate case. As a party to the proceeding, we submitted extensive comments, participated in online negotiations, spoke out at public hearings, and mobilized supporters to join us in fighting to keep electricity and gas rates down, limit the harm caused by fossil fuels, and do away with the pandemic-related debt that is hanging over the heads of more than a million utility customers in New York. 

Remarkably, in the end, residential rates for electric delivery will actually go down this year (an average of $.33/month, retroactive to July)), and will increase by an average of $1.72 and $1.82/month in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Gas delivery rates will increase by $1.64, $2.17, and $1.50/month. This is a lot better than the increases Central Hudson originally asked for, which would have raised electric rates by an average of 6.2% for electric and 8% for gas customers. As a result of the negotiations, Central Hudson also became the first NY utility to agree to reduce the size of its gas business, aiming at a decrease of 2.5 percent from 2019 rates over the three-year term of the rate period. Unfortunately, most customers’ bills will still be going up – at least if they buy their electricity from the utility, rather than from a community solar project or other clean energy sources. Delivery costs are only a part – often less than a third – of the total utility bill, and experts predict big increases in the cost of the fossil fuels that still produce much of the electricity Central Hudson delivers. (Currently, 44% of the electricity distributed by Central Hudson comes from burning “natural gas,” or methane, which is 84 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.)

CLP’s allies were sufficiently satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations that they signed on as supporters of the outcome. CLP did not. “We are happy that we were able to achieve quite a lot,” said President of the Board Susan H. Gillespie, who participated actively in the negotiations. “We are thrilled that delivery rates will go down and stay relatively low. But we couldn’t stomach the fact that the settlement actually increases the return that Central Hudson’s stockholders will earn – from 8.9 to 9.1%. This rewards rich people for doing nothing at all at a time when thousands of hard-working people are having trouble putting food on the table.” 

CLP also pushed hard for debt cancellation for the utility’s customers who are in arrears For more news on debt relief and how to join the state-wide campaign, see below.  

For updates on the sources of CH electricity, see their website.

We won on Danskammer but it’s not over yet!

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The Fight Against Danskammer is not over yet!

In October, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) denied an air quality permit for the planned expansion of the Danskammer fracked gas generating plant – a huge victory made possible by thousands of New Yorkers who turned out in force at hearings, wrote letters, and protested to make their opposition known. The Westchester County Legislature and the Newburgh City Council passed unanimous resolutions against the repowering; Orange County and the Cities of Beacon and Peekskill submitted comments opposing the project; and Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan rejected the proposed “outdated, dirty energy solution,” which would have replaced a “peaker plant” that runs a few days a year to meet spikes in electricity demand with the around-the-clock fracked gas-powered facility. 

Now the owners of the Danskammer plant, New York’s Tiger Capital Group, are trying again. They have appealed the DEC’s decision and requested a hearing, which will take place early next year. The hearing will include a trial-type process and a public comment period.

Stay tuned – or better yet, express your opposition NOW by contacting:

Michael Higgins, Project Manager, NYSDEC - Division of Environmental Permits, Bureau of Energy Project Management, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-1750,

End Of the Year Newsletter

End of Year Newsletter

It’s been an exciting year for Citizens for Local Power! Here are some highlights from recent actions and initiatives. We have even more powerful action planned for next year!

Announcements

Citizens for Local Power is excited to announce developments in it’s Kitchen Cabinet and staff.

Judith Karpova, Consultant at Energy Conservation Specialists and certified in more energy efficiency credentials than one can count, has joined the Kitchen Cabinet. Evelyn Wright has stepped back to dedicate herself to an important commitment - to serve as Deputy to Pat Ryan’s Ulster County Executive. CLP is sad to lose her from the board but thrilled to have her powerful voice in environmental issues influence Ulster County policy.

 CLP has also hired two coordinators to help enable the mission of empowering Kingston, connecting the community to have a voice in the power transition.

Jessica Clegg with a background in writing and communications, and Susie Jimenez, who has a background in arts, graphic design, and community surveying. Both are local activists and have deep connections to the Kingston community.

EMPOWER KINGSTON

Kingston has pledged to commit to a 100% renewable economy by 2030. With the support of the NoVo Foundation and the City of Kingston, Citizens for Local Power has taken on the promise and challenge of involving our communities in planning and carrying out Kingston's energy transition.

These meetings so far have opened the door to new ideas, connections, and possibilities for involving all people in Kingston in this vital transformation. We are working with the city government to ensure all voices are heard and considered as we collectively move toward a clean, green, livable future. Stay tuned!

more info

Danskammer Must Go!

Two weeks ago, a number of environmental organizations gathered in the Capitol building to protest the potential expansion of the Newburgh-based Danskammer plant. A little background: Danskammer has been operating as a peaker plant, which means it’s run five or so days a year in events of extreme energy need. On Thursday, 12/12, the Danskammer plant filed a permit request to open full-time, running on fracked gas from Pennsylvania. CLP strongly opposes any expansion of a fossil fuel-based infrastructure and advocates for the facility to explore green energy options--one being transitioning to an energy storage facility. Governor Cuomo has yet to decisively remark on the plant’s proposal, so more action will be needed in the new year. CLP will keep you posted about what you can do to prevent additional fracked gas in our state.

Mid-Hudson Regional Renewables Forum

This conference, which Citizens for Local Power was proud to endorse, brought together representatives from different sectors--state agencies, utilities, and municipalities and organizations--to share the progress we’re making toward a renewable economy. Kitchen Cabinet member Pat Courtney Strong moderated the Utilities panel. Other highlights included Rev. James Childs and Kai Nybro from SunCommon Community Solar discussing the innovative solar panel array project on Pointe of Praise Church grounds, which benefited long-term church members.

Citizens for Local Power (CLP) helps communities in the Mid-Hudson Region transition to a locally-based, clean energy economy. Combining research, education, advocacy, and project coordination, CLP supports community and municipal engagement in energy decision-making, transforming energy policy and practice to strengthen local economies, mitigate climate change and increase resilience.

Spring 2019 Newsletter

Among the several exciting new initiatives in our area are the establishment of the Kingston Land Bank, the victory of Town of Ulster activists and their allies (including CLP) in preventing construction of a new gas-fired generation plant, the imminent arrival of Community Choice Aggregation in the Mid-Hudson region, and exciting new ways for residents to buy clean power from local firms that offer hydro or solar with subscription or purchase options.

To learn more, read on:

(You may also access a pdf of this newsletter via a link at the bottom)

Launching the Community Energy Project

We are excited to announce the launch of Community Energy, a collaboration with the City of Kingston, the Kingston Land Bank, and diverse grassroots organizations to help ensure that residents, especially those who are most vulnerable and in need of energy savings and information, can engage in the process of energy renewal. While CLP intends to remain active at the state level, we are re-focusing our efforts on practical steps that will help municipalities and communities in the Mid-Hudson Valley achieve our goal: to create a locally based clean energy economy.

With the support of a small grant from the Sparkplug Foundation, we are conducting a weekly sequence of meetings with local organizations and activists as one step in building a broad, community-based initiative that involves residents directly in making their communities cleaner, greener, more powerful and prosperous.

As a result of this grant, we now have a storefront where we will host meetings and community events—a Midtown Kingston space we are fortunate to be sharing with New Yorkers for Clean Power.

During the coming year, we will draw on the results of our intensive outreach, education, and research to catalyze programs that lead directly to new green-energy-related jobs and job training in the Mid-Hudson region—jobs that are essential both to the State’s efforts to respond to climate change and to the economic welfare of the people who live here. At a moment when New York State aims to lead the fight against climate change by achieving—by 2030—a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and a 23% decrease in energy consumption in buildings from 2012 levels, it is very disturbing to know that according to the “New York Clean Energy Industry Report, 2017,” 75% of clean energy firms surveyed reported difficulty in finding qualified candidates to hire in the last 12 months. CLP’s goal is to play an initiating and supportive role in programs that include formal training, on-the-job training, internships, and apprenticeships. Programs should increase the skills of current workers in the industry and lead to badly needed jobs for young people, low-income community members, and formerly incarcerated residents.

Check out our website and facebook for updates on the project, community events, and ways you can get involved.

No New Fossil Fuel Plant in the Town of Ulster

GlidePath Power Solutions has revised its plans for the proposed Lincoln Park Grid Support Center in the town of Ulster. In response to concerns raised by Ulster residents and a broad coalition of community and environmental groups, including CLP, Glidepath dropped the fossil-fuel portion of the proposed design and now plans to build a 20-MW battery-only facility on the site. The revised design eliminates community concerns about water, air, and greenhouse gas pollution from the facility. The batteries will be used to support power quality and reliability on the regional electricity grid. As the penetration of wind and solar grows, battery storage will be increasingly valuable on the grid to smooth out fluctuations in renewable generation. CLP wants to thank all of the coalition partners and everyone who raised their voice to help bring about a much safer, cleaner, 21st-century design for this project.

CCA is Here!

Community Choice Aggregation is coming to the Hudson Valley. To date, six communities—Beacon, Cold Spring, Fishkill, Marbletown, Philipstown, and the City of Poughkeepsie—have implemented a local law that enables them to deploy a Community Choice program, and have chosen Joule Community Power and Hudson Valley Energy to implement the program. Joule Community Power will act as administrator of the CCA, with Hudson Valley Energy as implementing partner working with member communities.

As friends and supporters will remember, CLP played an important role in bringing CCA to New York in 2016. We learned about CCA from its inventor, Paul Fenn, who convinced us of the immense potential of CCA to transform energy use through local control and management. CCAs can only be formed by municipalities—typically a group of cities, towns, and villages working together—and include all their residents who get their electricity from the local utility and do not opt out. Ideally, CCAs—in the so-called “CCA 2.0” model that CLP supports—are able not just to lower the cost of energy for municipal residents by aggregating their electricity purchases, but to offer greener options and to invest in clean, locally-controlled energy and the local jobs needed to build and support it. The CCA model promises all these things, and in other states, such as California, it is already achieving them. The version that is now available in New York is getting closer. (Note that CCA does not include distribution; the electrical grid and everything related to getting the electricity from its source to the place where it is used remains in the hands of regulated utilities.)

Last spring, Joule Assets, in Westchester County, received authorization from the Public Service Commission to include Community Solar in CCA programs on a trial basis. The pilot allows residents who are members of the CCA to “opt up” and receive their electricity from a community solar project. A number of towns and villages in upstate New York are doing just this, meaning that the CCAs can sign up with nearby solar developers or other clean energy generators. Joule hopes that over time the Public Service Commission will continue to liberalize its approach and will allow CCAs to ally with community solar on an opt-out basis, which will be much more effective and easier to implement. Already, there is a proceeding underway to decide how to combine the billing for Community Solar, which would CCA members who receive Community Solar get a single, combined bill from their utility.

For further information, contact Jeff Domanski, cca@hudsonvalleyenergy.org, tel: 845-859-9099.

Community Solar and Small Hydro Electricity are Available Now!

Two new green generating projects are now offering the chance to buy your electricity from them, and it’s a great opportunity to get green power created right here in the Mid-Hudson Valley by a local company. If you currently get your electrical power through Central Hudson, you can subscribe to Natural Power Group—generating hydropower at its plants in Wallkill and Wappingers Falls and offering a subscription at a price that is guaranteed to be lower than what Central Hudson charges—or Pointe of Praise Church—offering a purchase option whereby you actually own solar panels in the new array in Kingston, with no upfront costs and at a rate that is also lower than Central Hudson’s. There is also a solar subscription option if that makes more sense for you. We encourage everyone to check them out.

https://nyforcleanpower.org/events/climate-solutions-summit/

Citizens for Local Power (CLP) helps communities in the Mid-Hudson Region transition to a locally-based, clean energy economy. Combining research, education, advocacy, and project coordination, CLP supports community and municipal engagement in energy decision-making, transforming energy policy and practice to strengthen local economies, mitigate climate change and increase resilience.

Access a pdf of this newsletter by clicking here.