Power To The People
"Choosing Your Own Power Supplier"
The Situation | My Email to Fellow New Yorkers | Responses | Research Info, Thoughts and Options | Conclusions
The Situation: NYSEG and New York State have deregulated power generation and now let you try to choose on your own a provider that has an environmental impact of your choice or a price of your choice or a gamble on price. I asked about 20 people in the Dryden-Ithaca area to respond to this limited time offer. Below you will find the original email and responses as well as a conclusion on what you can do to "Voice Your Choice".
My Email To Fellow New Yorkers:
Hi everyone,
I just took a few minutes to review the NYSEG “Voice your Choice” for your electrical supply and I was wondering if anyone has opted to take part in this selection.
If you have any strong feelings or advice or solutions that you might want to share with others, please reply. If you have thoughts you just want to send me, email me directly. I figured I’d email you because you might have some inclination to see if there is an option that helps out either financially or environmentally.
The mailer was sent a few weeks ago and we have until around December 29th to decide (though some options have earlier deadlines beware beware!).
The NYSEG site if you have no idea what I’m talking about:
http://www.nyseg.com/nysegweb/webcontent.nsf/doc/VYC
If your thoughts are something I might want to use for a “Dryden is Home” blog post about this subject let me know if they are ok to publish.
Hope the recent warm weather has allowed you to keep the thermostat in check!
Dave
Responses (anonymous except by gender and age):
"Damn! I was hoping you'd have some advice. I haven't had time to figure it out yet." Female resident of Dryden, early 50's
"I have not figured it out yet either. If anyone has please enlighten us." Female resident of Dryden, early 30's
"I guess that is what bothers me most is the notion that you are supposed to be able to make an informed decision about a supplier / strategy etc? Should I feel happy that there is a system in place that makes winners and losers out of customers on a hunch? When I asked them about this, all they could tell me was that I had to pick and decide for myself. Anyway IMHO, it is unethical for them to turn energy purchases into Vegas baby. If I wanted to gamble on energy futures I would be an energy trader not a consumer." Male resident of the Town of Ithaca, late 30's
"Everything i have read told me that there isn't enough information to make a "choice".. argh!" Female resident of Dryden, late 40's
"I hate this whole choose-your-own-adventure nonsense and find this particular side of deregulation to be a sad joke. However, since we're not Groton, and don't have their municipal power system, we're stuck with it. They also sent me something about choosing a natural gas supplier earlier this year, which I completely ignored. Who's going to sell me something different in natural gas? And how would I figure out who's the cheapest anyway?" Male resident of Dryden, mid-30's
"Amateur speaking...
I deal in the real estate market and know that people who choose a variable
rate in the recent past years are regretting it now, interest rate are
rising; very slowly. For a short term decision, I would agree with a variable
rate and place your bets. I have not looked into this years NYSEG decision(s),
like many it is the bottom of a long list of "TO-DO."" Female resident of
Lansing, early 30's
"Let's think about this... Where is hydroelectric (real clean) electricity generated? Western NY (Niagara River) and northeastern NY (St. Lawrence at Ogdensburg and Massena. May be other places, but not much around here. We have AES at Lake Ridge and a few other oil and coal fired generators around the southern tier. These may factor into what's available for us and why our options are dirtier than some of the other areas." Male resident of Dryden, late 60's
"I'm so glad somebody brought this up. After
about ten minutes of trying to make sense of NYSEG's useless mailing, I just
threw my hands up. I realized that is EXACTLY what the f-ers want: everyone
to say, "Forget trying to make sense of this. I'm just sticking with the default
choice." That's some real freedom of choice that's making a difference, eh?
What an absolute piece of trash that NYSEG mailing was; and such an insult, not
to mention unethical, and probably illegal. I'm bummed that Spitzer is
heading for the governor's mansion because I seriously believe that this choose
your own bullshit is primo class action material. It's criminal. If most of
us who replied to your email are throwing up our hands at this after actually
reading the mailing, just imagine how totally unfair this is to those in less
fortunate circumstances.
I did sign up for the wind energy thing a few months ago, although that seems to
be a bit of a joke, at least it made me *feel* like I was doing something good.
I'm all up for living off the grid." Female resident of Town of Ithaca, mid-30's
Research Information, Thoughts and Options
A few people had specific ideas and thoughts. People's conversation strings are numbered and followed up by Q&A that was over one or more follow up emails:
1. There is Mega (Municipal Electric & Gas Alliance) www.megaenergy.org which has been around for a few years. It does give an alternate source where someone else does the investigating and negotiating. Currently, our (I've been in it since its inception) supplier is http://www.advantageenergyusa.com/advantage/index.aspx.
If I remember correctly, it seems that I compared emissions a few months ago, perhaps between MEGA's supplier and probably NYSEG. I think the MEGA supplier was less green, which would be worth looking into. I don't have a copy of the emissions, but maybe you could find it on the internet. I did look with no success, but I will receive one with my next bill, presumably next week.
Q. Thanks for this MEGA information. I’d never heard of it. Too bad individuals can’t join (or can they, it doesn’t read like it on the website).
A. Oh yes. I'm an individual and I've been a member since deregulation. Notice it says on app - "Name or Organization." Also, Residential Account is a service classification.
2. I went with Agway last time on the recommendation of Jon Harrod (of Performance Systems, wrote a piece in the Journal), because it was a supposedly greener approach. I don't know if the 'Agway' offering is the same thing as that was, and can't really figure it out from they have online. http://www.psdconsulting.com/ http://www.agwayenergy.com which goes to: http://www.suburbanenergy.com/index.html
3. Here's some info about the NYSEG fixed and NYSEG Default Supply
(variable) rates.
The fixed rate in 2007 will be 12.22 cents per kWh.
The variable rate in 2006 averaged 10.68 cents per kWh. If anyone knows
what the fixed rate in 2006 is (the total of delivery, transition and supply) we
can tell how that compares to the 2006 average variable rate. I'm inclined to
guess the variable rate will average slightly cheaper. But you have to have a
certain tolerance for risk.
I have a day/night rate meter. So I don't know what the current rate is for
people with regular meters. But at least I've answered my long-standing question
about whether or not the day/night rate meter is a good idea. It is.
If I have the patience for it, I'll check out some of the ESCOs.
Q. What’s a day / night meter and how do
I get one?
A. I don't know what the criteria are now. But when I got it, they were
available to customers who use a substantial amount of electricity at night -
usually because of electric heat or an electric water heater. The day rate is a
bit higher than the regular day rate, but the night rate is substantially lower.
Q. Thanks for the other information and
research, let me know how your esco research goes.
A. I'm not hopeful about the ESCO research. All the websites I've checked
say "Call for rates" or something like that.
4. Here's the answer regarding the ESCOs' environmental disclosures:
http://www3.dps.state.ny.us/E/EnergyLabel.nsf/ViewCat?ReadForm&View=LabelInfo&Cat=July+2004+-+June+2005&Count=80
MEGA's Advantage Energy is dirtier than NYSEG by quite a bit. I wonder if MEGA
takes that into consideration. Check out the pollution (or lack thereof) of New
York Municipal Power Association from the above page.
Q. Wow, it’s not even close! Thanks for finding this.
Does all MEGA go through Advantage Energy? I wonder how much emissions have an
effect on the price they find. How much more would we pay for New York Municipal
Power? Maybe that would be an option for people who only cared about the
environment and had an unlimited supply of money. (That’s not me though…maybe
NYSEG does the best at giving me the best price at the least environmentally
damaging)
A chart of pricing and outputs of environmental disclosures would be
perfect…wonder if that is out there too?
A. Another problem. If you work from NYSEG's ESCO availability page you find that New York Municipal Power is not listed. I went through all the residential ESCOs listed there and the environmental disclosures all seem to be about the same. Check them out.
Q. Do they ever use another dealer?
A. As I recall, MEGA used NYSEG Solutions the first period (two years?), then Advantage for the last two periods. Yes, all MEGA members use Advantage, as far as I know. That's how you get the negotiated price.
Q. A chart of pricing and outputs of environmental disclosures would be perfect…wonder if that is out there too?
A. NYSEG (not Solutions) appears the cleanest from what I saw.
Q. Yeah, the first one I looked at was NYSEG Solutions and I noticed
there was almost no difference (1 % point better in terms of how much above the
average Sulfur Dioxide was produced). It mirrors Advantage (as does Robison).
These were just two I selected at random.
Arrggg,
A. I just realized - New York State Electric and Gas is not available here, just NYSEG Solutions. So all options are very close to each other. Looks like I'll stay with MEGA and whatever they recommend.
1. Take a look at the list of possible suppliers here: http://www.nyseg.com/nysegweb/webcontent.nsf/doc/ESCOEligibleElec
2. Do the research to find out the rates for each one (because I'm sure you have time to check the rates and decide on fixed vs. variable)
3. Look at the Environmental Disclosure statements by these ESCOs: http://www3.dps.state.ny.us/E/EnergyLabel.nsf/ViewCat?ReadForm&View=LabelInfo&Cat=July+2004+-+June+2005&Count=80
4. Compare the air emissions (Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxide, Carbon Dioxide) of your choices.
5. Review the fuel sources to see if you support Nuclear, Oil, Gas and Coal or Biomass, Hydro, Solar, Wind, Solid Waste and Nuclear (yes Nuclear is clean and potentially unclean at the same time!)
6. Take a look at MEGA:
7. Submit your application:
http://www.megaenergy.org/form.pdf
8. Let MEGA negotiate the best price for you (as long as you don't think your individual selection will really impact overall pollution). A lot of towns and cities are using MEGA to get the best pricing. It looks like they get the best pricing by choosing a supplier that is among the most pollution rich. Note that Performance System's (Jon Harrod's) guess had an equal air emissions and fuel sources as the MEGA solution.
9. Sign up for whatever MEGA is choosing, so you can save some money and then use that savings to buy wind energy via NYSEG: http://www.newwindenergy.com/buywind/home/new_york/step3_nyseg.html
10. Smile and enjoy the freedom to choose your supplier!
David Makar, November 20th, 2006, Town of Dryden, New York
This report is not affiliated with nor endorsed by 544 Productions or the Dryden Town Board. I write this as a private citizen. If you have comments relating to your experience, please leave a comment on the blog, "Dryden is Home" or email me directly at davidmakar@hotmail.com.