Scottsville Mayor Paul F. Gee announced on August 24 that the Village of Scottsville became the first municipality in Monroe County to pass a local Community Choice Aggregation Law. Scottsville joins the Village of Lima and the Town of Geneva in efforts to lower energy bills for their residents. The Village of Scottsville is 100% committed to clean energy.
What is a CCA? Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is a policy tool that enables New York cities, towns and villages to select the default energy supplier(s) for electricity and/or natural gas on behalf of residents and small businesses. CCA empowers communities to aggregate the buying power of individual consumers and seek energy supply contracts that compete with the default supplier – the regional utility. A municipality may sign a supply contract with one or more ESCOs and/or directly with local renewable generators.
Municipalities may aggregate together in an inter-municipal program to maximize pricing benefit or leverage in contract negotiations. Aggregating consumers on the community scale creates the buying power necessary to dictate the terms of how we buy, use, and generate electricity now and in the future.
CCA impacts energy supply only, the regulated Distribution Utility retains responsibility for transmission and delivery. Consumers not wishing to participate are permitted to opt-out and remain as utility supply customers. CCA secures 1) cost certainty, 2) access to renewable power at competitive rates, and 3) opportunities to develop local sustainable energy projects that generate recurring revenue and local jobs.
CCA has been shown in five US states, and a pilot program in Westchester County, to deliver smarter, cleaner energy choices through collective action. Existing programs serve over 1,500 municipalities and 5 million customers nationwide,
