MONTICELLO, NY — The Agriculture and Sustainability Committee of the Sullivan County Legislature will hear a presentation by Mike Gordon on Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a program that allows municipalities to negotiate low-cost electric rates for businesses and residential customers, to be held at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 11.

One thousand three hundred CCA programs have already been established in the six states that have authorized the program. In almost every instance, the cost savings have been dramatic. CCA customers typically see their electric rates drop by 5% to 10%. In some cases, electric rates have been cut by more than a third. These cost savings are possible because a CCA with thousands of members, can negotiate wholesale rates that are far below the price utilities charge individual customers.

CCA has not been permitted in New York in the past, but last year the Public Service Commission signaled it would permit CCAs as a part of the restructuring of energy markets known as Reforming the Energy Vision. Working with a not-for-profit group called Sustainable Westchester, Mike Gordon succeeded in getting permission to launch the state’s first CCA in suburban Westchester County. It is expected to go online later this year. If the legislature likes what it hears on Thursday it might approve a resolution supporting the development of a CCA in Sullivan County.