Under § 10(1)(ii)(a)(12) of the New York Municipal
Home Rule Law and determinations of the New York State Public Service
Commission municipalities, including the Village of Warwick, are empowered
to establish Community Choice Aggregation Programs ("CCA"). The purpose
of a CCA is to benefit residents of the municipality by reducing energy
costs, providing energy cost certainty, and promoting deeper penetration
of energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. This chapter
establishes a CCA program that will allow the Village, in partnership
with other municipalities, to put out for bid the total amount of
natural gas and/or electricity being purchased by eligible consumers
within the Village. Eligible consumers will have the opportunity to
lower their overall energy costs, to spur clean energy innovation
and investment, to improve customer choice and value, and to help
protect the environment.
For purposes of this chapter, and unless otherwise expressly
stated or unless the context otherwise requires, the terms in this
chapter shall have the meanings employed in the State of New York
Public Service Commission's Uniform Business Practices or, if
not so defined there, as indicated below:
AGGREGATED DATA
Aggregated data shall mean aggregated and anonymized information
including the number of consumers by service class, the aggregated
peak demand (kW) (for electricity) by month for the past 12 months,
by service class to the extent possible, and the aggregated energy
(kWh) for electricity or volumetric consumption for gas by month for
the past 12 months by service class.
CCA ADMINISTRATOR
CCA Administrator shall mean the Village of Warwick or its
duly authorized CCA Administrator authorized to request aggregated
and customer-specific data to competitively solicit suppliers for
the aggregated demand for electricity and/or natural gas on behalf
of default consumers, and to offer participating consumers additional
opportunities to participate or enroll in programs or projects related
to distributed energy resources. The CCA Administrator is responsible
for program organization, administration, procurement, communications,
and for meeting all requirements for program implementation specified
in the Public Service Commission Community Choice Aggregation Order
(PSC CCA Order), unless otherwise specified.
COMMUNITY CHOICE AGGREGATION (CCA)
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) shall mean a Village-sponsored
program, either alone or in concert with other municipalities, under
which the aggregate buying power of individual energy customers within
a defined jurisdiction is used in order to secure alternative energy
supply contracts on a community-wide basis, while allowing consumers
not wishing to participate in the program to opt out.
CUSTOMER-SPECIFIC DATA
Customer-Specific Data shall mean customer specific information,
personal data and utility data for all consumers in the Village eligible
for opt-out treatment based on the terms of PSC CCA Order and the
CCA program design including the customer of record's name, mailing
address, telephone number, account number, and primary language, if
available, and any customer-specific alternate billing name, address,
and phone number.
DATA SECURITY AGREEMENT
Shall mean an agreement between the distribution utility
and the Village that obligates each party to meet, collectively, i)
all national, state and local laws, regulations or other government
standards relating to the protection of information that identifies
or can be used to identify an individual eligible consumer with respect
to the CCA Administrator or its representative's processing of
confidential utility information; ii) the distribution utility's
internal requirements and procedures relating to the protection of
information that identifies or can be used to identify individual
eligible consumer with respect to the CCA Administrator or its representative's
processing of confidential utility information; and iii) the PSC CCA
Order and PSC rules, regulations and guidelines relating to confidential
data.
DEFAULT CONSUMERS
Default Consumers shall mean customers of electricity and/or
natural gas within opt-out-eligible service classes (as delineated
in the PSC CCA Order) who receive supply service from the distribution
utility as of the date the supply contract goes into effect.
DEFAULT SERVICE
Default service shall mean supply service provided by the
distribution utility to consumers who are not currently receiving
service from an energy service company (ESCO). Eligible consumers
within the Village that receive default service, and have not opted
out, will be enrolled in the program as of the effective date.
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES (DER)
Distributed energy resources (DER) shall mean local renewable
energy projects, community-distributed generation (e.g., shared solar),
peak demand management, energy efficiency, demand response, energy
storage, community resilience microgrid projects, and other innovative
Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiatives that further engage
and/or reduce cost of service for participating consumers, optimize
system benefits, and/or address infrastructure and demand challenges
within the geography of the CCA Program.
DISTRIBUTION UTILITY
Distribution utility shall mean the owner or controller of
the means of distribution of the natural gas or electricity in the
Village. The distribution utility also serves as the default supplier
of electricity and natural gas preceding the establishment of a CCA
Program.
ELIGIBLE CONSUMERS
Eligible consumers shall mean eligible customers of electricity
and/or natural gas who receive default service from the distribution
utility as of the effective date, or new consumers that subsequently
become eligible to participate in the Program, at one or more locations
within the geographic boundaries of the Village, except those consumers
who receive default service and have requested not to have their account
information shared by the distribution utility. For the avoidance
of doubt, all eligible consumers must reside or be otherwise located
at one or more locations within the geographic boundaries of the Village,
as such boundaries exist on the effective date of the ESA.
ENERGY SERVICES COMPANY (ESCO)
Energy services company (ESCO) shall mean an entity duly
authorized to conduct business in the State of New York as an ESCO.
NEW CONSUMERS
New consumers shall mean consumers of electricity that become
eligible consumers after the effective date of the ESA, including
those that opt in or move into the Village.
PARTICIPATING CONSUMERS
Participating consumers shall mean default consumers who
have not opted out, and nondefault consumers of any service class
that have voluntarily enrolled in the program.
PROGRAM ORGANIZER
Program organizer shall mean the group responsible for initiating
and organizing the CCA. This group will typically secure buy-in from
local governments and engage in preliminary outreach and education
around CCA. The program organizer may be a nonprofit organization,
local government, or other third party. The program organizer and
the CCA Administrator may be the same.
PSC CCA ORDER
PSC CCA Order shall mean the PSC's Order Authorizing
Framework for Community Choice Aggregation Opt-Out Program, issued
on April 21, 2016, in Case 14-M-0224, "Proceeding on Motion of the
Commission to Enable Community Choice Aggregation Programs."
SUPPLIERS
Suppliers shall mean ESCOs that procure electric power and
natural gas for participating consumers in connection with this article
or, alternatively, generators of electricity and natural gas or other
entities who procure and resell electricity or natural gas.
The Village or CCA Administrator may collect, or cause to be
collected, funds from customer payments to pay for administrative
costs associated with running the CCA Program.