Energy Update for December

​​Note: To power your home with renewable energy, see the most recent Subscription Community Solar chart (and FAQ) and 100% Renewable Electricity chart. 

By Gerri Wiley, HeatSmart volunteer and Energy Navigator

Hello Green Beings,
Have you ever wondered how I come up with just ONE 100% renewable electricity supply company on my recommendation chart each month for the past couple years? Let’s say you live in NYISO load zone C, your utility is NYSEG, and you want to know your options for a 100% renewable electricity supply? You go to https://documents.dps.ny.gov/PTC/home, pop in your zip code and using mine [13827] find a list of 31 different supply plans offered by 17 companies. “Wow…That’s too much choice,” you say. "So why does Gerri say there’s no choice at all? That there’s only one option--Energy Coop of America’s (ECA’s) renewable plan?"
Let me show you. Take a look at my Dec 5, 2022 ESCO Review, which is color-coded for your viewing pleasure.

• First, take the 13 'blue companies' with their 24 plans and chuck them right off the list. They are not eligible to be operating in New York State because they don’t follow the Public Service Commission location requirements for procuring Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). How do we know this? From the recently released New York Generation Attribute Tracking System (NYGATS) report for 2021: https://nygats.ny.gov/ng/Report/getdto_view_Report_PublicEDPLabel. You might say, "Well that was 2021 and they're probably doing the right thing in 2022." I would then accuse you of being very charitable.

• Then, dump the 'orange companies' off the list, as they either don’t know their companies or are misrepresenting them. Inspire Energy Holdings report purchasing solar and wind RECs, where NYGATS shows they purchased mostly hydro (96%) and 4% wind. City Power & Gas reports in as offering 100% renewable supply, yet offers about 54%, allowable by the PSC, but a misrepresentation to the public, which actually is not allowable by the PSC due to its requirement for transparency.

• Ok, so we’re left with two 'yellow companies' following PSC’s ESCO rules: Energy Coop of America, currently at 8.35 cents/kWh with near zero customer complaints and Clean Choice at 13.90 cents/kWh with many customer complaints, including accusations of deceptive marketing.

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• As I said, there’s no choice at all. ECA continues to run solo. My second ESCO attachment shows you this, along with 2021 NYGATS electricity source percentages for the NYSEG default. Spoiler alert: It’s bad. Premature Indian Point Nuclear Plant Unit 2 closure resulted in increased natural gas use. 2022 NYGATS will show an even higher natural gas percentage, reflecting Indian Point’s Unit 3 closure. Thus, NYSEG's renewable portion moves from 17% in 2020 to just 15% in 2021. NYSEG's emission-free electricity moves from 51% in 2020 to just 43% in 2021!  PSC--Are you there?I’m sparing you a 3rd, 4th, & 5th attachment—busy month—and will save them for the geeks. If you define yourself as such, give a holler and I’ll send them to you.

Renewably yours,
Gerri
p.s. Complaints to the Public Service Commission regarding your own bill? Call 800-342-3377.