Town Votes To Explore Community Choice Energy Aggregation Program

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — The Southampton Town board has voted to give residents a choice when it comes to energy.

The board voted unanimously to enable the establishment of a Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA, energy program.

The New York State approved CCA program "may give ratepayers, as a group, the ability to find cheaper rates through a competitive bidding process than currently available from the Long Island Power Authority, to advance the town’s efforts to achieve 100% percent renewable electric energy by 2025 and to make a significant impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," the town said in a release.

The approved local legislation begins a process of evaluating the potential of the CCA program, a release from Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman's office said.

A CCA energy program was implemented in Westchester County in 2016; it includes 26 municipalities in that county, town officials said.

To date, the more that 125,000 ratepayers in the Westchester program have saved more than $13 million in aggregate, according to the town. Statewide, another 35 municipalities have adopted similar enabling legislation

The CCA program was first proposed by the town’s sustainability committee and its chair of the energy sub-committee Lynn Arthur, the release said.

East Hampton and Brookhaven Towns have expressed interest in learning more about the Southampton CCA and may join with the town's program in the future — the Town of Brookhaven is currently establishing an exploratory committee to investigate CCA, the release said.

The Southampton town board introduced the legislation, sponsored by Councilman John Bouvier, on Nov. 27th and held a public hearing on Jan. 22, followed by a 30-day comment period ending on Feb. 22.

The town now has the authority to seek the expertise of a CCA administrator to evaluate the potential of the program for Southampton ratepayers; this next step requires no financial or legal obligation on the part of the town, the release said.