ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The City of Rochester activated its community choice clean energy program, Rochester Community Power, to provide residents and small businesses with locally sourced 100% renewable energy using hydropower and wind power. Rochester is the largest municipality in New York State to launch a community choice aggregation (CCA) program.
Available to 57,000 Rochester residents and small businesses, the program will supply customers with more than 300 million kWh of renewable energy each year, avoiding roughly 225,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next two years.
Renewable energy is now the default electricity supply choice in Rochester, so eligible residents and businesses are automatically enrolled. Participants can opt out at any time if they do not wish to participate in the program. Joule Assets, as the program administrator, managed the competitive bidding process to secure a fixed rate for the next 24 months, protecting residents and businesses from volatile market prices.
CCA empowers municipalities to select their own power sources and helps move New York toward its goal of 70% renewable energy by 2030. Rochester has further committed to this cause with an opt-out community choice solar program that is expected to launch in early 2022.
“So much hard work was put into creating Rochester Community Power, and now our residents will begin to reap the benefits,” said Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren. “We look forward to adding the community solar program early next year, which will offer guaranteed savings for the community, including many of our more than 23,000 Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) households.”
Community solar programs allow residents to realize a guaranteed savings on their electric bills without incurring the cost or hassle of installing solar panels on their home or property. Joule recently launched the first opt-out community solar program in the United States in Brockport and Lima, NY. Joule is the only program administrator with approval from New York State to integrate community solar and electricity supply in a community choice offering.
With the addition of community choice solar to Rochester Community Power, the city will be New York’s new benchmark as other municipalities also look to leverage their buying power and provide their residents and businesses access to guaranteed electricity bill savings.
“As the largest CCA in New York, Rochester is a shining example for future projects in the state,” said Jessica Stromback, CEO at Joule Assets. “Municipalities deserve a say in how their residents are served energy, and we are eager to help others in New York follow this blueprint to provide savings and clean energy solutions for their communities.”
