Woodbridge Forms Energy Cooperative, With 100% Renewable Goal

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — At their Aug. 17 meeting, the Woodbridge town Council passed a resolution that establishes a community energy aggregation program.

What does that mean?, you ask.

A community energy aggregation program allows municipal governments to form a cooperative, by which ratepayers can purchase energy together, as an aggregate, under the co-op. Basically, it allows a town or city to negotiate and purchase electricity in bulk.

The Woodbridge Council voted unanimously on Aug. 17 to launch this.

Woodbridge will form the "Woodbridge Township Community Energy Aggregation program," called CEA for short, which will solicit energy proposals from electric companies or other utility companies to provide the town with electricity. However, Woodbridge has a requirement that the energy provided must be renewable energy as much as possible — i.e., no fossil fuels.

Operating as a cooperative increases the buying/negotiating power of the town of Woodbridge when it comes to negotiating with giant utility companies, which are often very powerful.

Currently, Woodbridge is served by PSE&G.

Most Woodbridge residents will be automatically enrolled in the program, though some will not, including: commercial accounts, those who already selected a third-party supplier on their own, and potentially those who have installed rooftop solar panels on their property.

However, Woodbridge residents will be able to opt in or out of the program at any time.

"Community choice aggregation (CCA) enables a municipality to essentially make bulk purchases of electricity supply," said Food & Water Watch, an advocacy group that supports what Woodbridge is doing. "A growing number of communities across the country are using these programs to increase the use of clean, renewable energy."

Will my electric bill go up?

Will ratepayers' energy bills increase under these cooperatives? Those who support this say no.

"While billing and electricity delivery is not affected, CCA programs tend to save residents money on their monthly bills," said Food & Water Watch.

Once the public bidding process is complete, the exact electric rates available to Woodbridge to purchase will be publicly unveiled, and the town Council will have authority to award the contract to the "greenest" bidder with the lowest price per kilowatt-hour.

"Towns all over New Jersey have been able to achieve savings by buying renewable energy in bulk through programs like this," said Charlie Kratovil of Food & Water Watch.

Before implementation, Woodbridge is required to notify customers of their options through a mailing.

"Opting in or out of an energy aggregation program is easy and can be accomplished either by returning the card that is included in that mailing, making a phone call, sending an email or using a website," said Kratovil.

Customers who participate in the program will receive no additional bills.

"The familiar PSE&G bill will identify the energy supplier selected through the program, and include a price comparison for the benefit of customers," he said.

Woodbridge wants to be entirely on renewable entirely by 2030

The goal is to have every household and business in Woodbridge using entirely renewable electricity by Jan. 1, 2030.

Woodbridge said it would like the energy to come from all renewable sources. The Township will only award contracts to those providers it deems "acceptable."

"No contract will be awarded unless it has an option for customers to opt up to 100 percent renewable electricity," read the resolution.

“Once this program is implemented, renewable energy jumps to 50 percent and increases year over year until we reach 10 percent renewable energy,” said Leigh Darden, who led this effort in Woodbridge. “This program has been successfully implemented in several towns across the state."

North Brunswick recently formed a similar energy cooperative with its residents; it also has the goal of the entire Township using 100 percent renewable electricity by the year 2030. The North Brunswick Council voted 4-2 to adopt the ordinance on Monday of this week, Aug. 30.

This past spring, Food & Water Watch launched new petition campaigns in five cities and towns — Woodbridge, North Brunswick, Cherry Hill, Teaneck and Long Branch — to help create community choice aggregation programs.

In August, the cooperative ordinances passed in Long Branch, North Brunswick and Woodbridge; petitions are still being collected in Cherry Hill.

This program has not been successful in Teaneck: Food & Water Watch said Teaneck officials are trying to reject some of the electronic signatures they gathered; Food & Water Watch is challenging that assertion in court.

Food & Water Watch said it has passed similar renewable energy programs in Edison, New Brunswick, Collingswood, Asbury Park, Piscataway, East Brunswick, South Brunswick and Red Bank, and has a goal of enacting the policy in 10 additional towns and cities this year. That would put more than one million New Jersey residents on a path to achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

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