It is the intent of the City of Albany to establish a Community
Choice Aggregation ("CCA") Program to aggregate the energy supply
needs of residents and small commercial customers, and to negotiate
and enter into, or authorize its agent to negotiate and enter into,
energy supply agreements ("ESAs") with energy service companies ("ESCOs")
on behalf of eligible citizens to obtain stable, lower-cost energy
prices, as well as environmental benefits and/or a community-based
solution to meeting our collective energy needs. The purpose of this
chapter is two-fold: to establish a CCA Program in the City of Albany
and to adopt certain provisions relating to the creation and implementation
of the CCA Program.
The NYSPSC Order Authorizing CCAs expressly empowers cities,
towns and villages in this state to create CCA Programs. Further,
the New York Municipal Home Rule Law, Article 2, § 10, authorizes
a municipality to adopt general laws relating to its property, affairs,
and government, the protection and enhancement of its physical and
visual environment, the protection and well-being of persons within
the municipality, and for other authorized purposes.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
AUTOMATICALLY ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS
Customers' accounts in those utility service classes
eligible for inclusion in the CCA Program on an opt-out basis, as
set forth in the NYSPSC Order Authorizing CCAs, Appendix C, or as
otherwise specified by the Commission. Generally, these classes of
customers include those receiving residential electric supply service,
including those in multi-family housing, certain types of institutions,
and some small commercial customers covered by "small general service"
class designations. Automatically eligible customers shall not include
customers' accounts that have already been enrolled in service
through an ESCO, enrolled in utility programs which require them to
take supply service from their current utility, or that have a block
on their utility account at the time of CCA formation (NOTE: Except
assistance program participants ("APPs"), customers enrolled in utility
low-income assistance programs who may have blocks on their accounts
with their existing utility, but who may still be eligible to participate);
those customers' accounts shall be eligible to participate on
an opt-in basis, if they so desire.
CCA ADMINISTRATOR
An agent of the municipality charged with overseeing creation,
implementation and operation of a CCA Program, as well as competitively
procuring and negotiating energy supply agreements with ESCOs. The
CCA Administrator shall be retained by the City of Albany via a separate
CCA administration agreement and shall work together with the Community
Choice Aggregation Oversight Board.
COMMUNITY CHOICE AGGREGATION (CCA)/CCA PROGRAM
A program authorized by the New York State Public Service
Commission (NYSPSC) to aggregate residential and commercial electric
supply and/or energy-related value-added products and services within
a given municipality, and/or among multiple municipalities, in order
to leverage that energy demand to negotiate favorable energy supply
agreements directly with ESCOs. Customers within a CCA Program would
no longer purchase their energy supply directly from their utility.
However, the utility would continue to deliver energy to these customers,
to charge for that delivery, and will retain its transmission and
distribution network. The energy supply portion of a customer's
energy service is provided by an ESCO or ESCOs, pursuant to an energy
supply agreement competitively procured and negotiated for the CCA
Program at large, then delivered to customers via the local utility.
ELIGIBLE CUSTOMERS
A.
All automatically eligible customers plus those utility customers
eligible for inclusion in the CCA Program on an opt-in basis, as set
forth in the NYSPSC Order Authorizing CCAs or otherwise authorized
by the Commission. Those customers eligible to participate in the
CCA Program on an opt-in basis currently include: those customers
already enrolled in service through an ESCO at the time of CCA formation,
customers in large commercial, institutional, or industrial utility
service classes that cannot be automatically enrolled in the CCA on
an opt-out basis, and all other customers not considered automatically
eligible customers.
B.
References to the broader class of eligible customers shall
signify the entire pool of customers participating in the aggregation,
either because they have been automatically enrolled on an opt-out
basis, or because they have affirmatively opted in.
ENERGY SERVICES COMPANY (ESCO)
A third-party energy supplier eligible to sell electricity
and energy-related value-added services to customers in New York State,
utilizing the transmission and distribution systems of existing utilities.
ESCOs are regulated by the New York State Department of Public Service
and the New York State Public Service Commission, and must comply
with the New York State Public Service Law.
ENERGY SUPPLY AGREEMENT (ESA)
An agreement between an energy customer and an energy services
company (ESCO) to provide electricity service to the customer for
a fixed or variable price. For purposes of this chapter, the CCA Administrator
would conduct a competitive procurement on behalf of all eligible
customers and would work with the Community Choice Aggregation Oversight
Board to enter into an energy service agreement(s) with an ESCO to
provide power to all such customers in the community.
MUNICIPALITY
Reference to these terms throughout this chapter indicate
the City of Albany unless otherwise noted.
UTILITY
Refers to traditional electric and/or natural gas utilities
regulated by the New York State Department of Public Service and the
New York State Public Service Commission and permitted to provide
electric supply, transmission, and distribution services to all customers
within their designated service territory. For the purposes of this
chapter, the term "utility" will refer to the national grid.
The City of Albany hereby establishes a CCA Program for aggregation
of electric supply to serve all eligible customers in its jurisdiction.
All automatically eligible customers shall be included in the CCA
Program on an opt-out basis, and shall be afforded the opportunity
to opt out of the CCA Program, without penalty and at no cost at any
time, with the understanding that after enrollment in the Program,
the effective date of the opt-out will need to allow for reasonable
administrative processing timeframes. All customers who are not automatically
eligible to be included in the CCA Program on an opt-out basis shall
be permitted to affirmatively opt in to the Program in accordance
with the terms of the ESA and/or the NYSPSC Order Authorizing CCAs.
There is hereby created a City of Albany Community Choice Aggregation
Oversight Board (hereinafter referred to as the "CCA Oversight Board")
for the purposes of overseeing the CCA Program and general implementation.
The CCA Oversight Board shall:
A. Review and approve the selection of the CCA Administrator, the implementation
plan, the education and outreach plan, selection of the ESCO, any
and all contracts and supplemental changes to any contracts and plans
as provided in this chapter.
B. Receive timely notices of all proposed actions, plans, changes, and
updates relating to the CCA Program.
C. Together with the CCA Administrator create and follow a Customer
Data Protection Plan.
D. Meet at a minimum of quarterly to receive an update on the CCA from
the CCA Administrator and report back to the Common Council and the
Mayor.
E. Perform general oversight of the CCA Program and public outreach
of the CCA Program and the CCA Administrator.
F. The Board must submit a report six months after the initial implementation
of the Program and thereafter annually to the Common Council and Mayor.
In accordance with the NYSPSC Order Authorizing CCAs, it shall
be the responsibility of the City of Albany, supported by any CCA
Administrator that may be under contract, to ensure the CCA Program
is operated in compliance with all applicable provisions of the New
York State Public Service Law, regulations of the New York State Public
Service Commission and/or the New York State Department of Public
Service, the Uniform Business Practices (to the extent applicable),
the NYSPSC Order Authorizing CCAs and any other relevant laws or regulations.
This provision applies regardless of whether a CCA Administrator is
retained to organize and implement the City of Albany's CCA Program.
This shall include, but not be limited to, compliance with any reporting
requirements related to the CCA Program.
In the event the New York State Public Service Commission, the
State Legislature, or other state agency enacts laws or regulations
regarding the operation of CCAs which are in conflict with this chapter,
the state provisions shall govern.
Nothing in this chapter shall be read to create liability on
the part of the City of Albany related to the provision of electric
service to customers. The ESCO selected to provide such service will
be ultimately responsible for compliance with all applicable laws,
rules, and regulations governing retail energy services, and will
assume any liability stemming from the provision of such service to
retail customers, including any potential liability associated with
the service itself, customer data and information, and any other matters
which would traditionally fall under the purview of a merchant utility
providing the same service to customers prior to the formation of
the CCA. This chapter is meant merely to facilitate the creation of
an aggregation program in this community. The City of Albany will
not assume the role of ESCO or utility in the sale or delivery of
energy services.
Each provision of this chapter is severable from the others
so that if any provision is held to be illegal or invalid for any
reason whatsoever, such illegal or invalid provision shall be severed
from this chapter, which shall nonetheless remain in full force and
effect.