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Con Ed's rates can seem as complicated as the wires that move its electricity

November 9, 2025

By Dean Gallea, Energy and Conservation Chair, Tarrytown Environmental Advisory Council (TEAC)

Sustainable Westchester has informed us that the Westchester Power renewable energy program [CCA] will be discontinued at the end of this year. This decision results from practical implementation challenges associated with recently adopted State outreach and education mandates. Sustainable Westchester has concluded that these regulatory requirements cannot be met on a schedule consistent with the program’s continued operation.

Starting with this December’s utility bill, customers who take no action will be returned to Con Edison as their default supplier of electricity.

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As an alternative, customers may select another Energy Services Company (“ESCO”) for electricity supply. A list of currently active suppliers can be found HERE.

The Village of Tarrytown remains committed to working with Sustainable Westchester to accelerate a transition to clean power, promote energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve resiliency.

For questions about the Westchester Power program or to learn more about Sustainable Westchester’s wide-ranging services, please email i nfo@sustainablewestchester.org or call 914-242-4725 x.128.

This comes as a surprise to all of us. It means that our default electricity supply will NOT – for the time being – contribute toward the renewable-energy transition goals of NY State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). And, our default electricity supply rate will no longer be held constant for a two-year period (per the already-negotiated contract that was to go into effect), but will vary depending on ConEd’s own market supplies. (Some of you may have already opted out of Westchester Power, in which case this will not affect you directly.)

As the statement suggests, and for those of you willing to go through the process, there are alternative “greener” energy suppliers (ESCOs) you may choose instead of keeping the default “brown” sources Con Ed uses. Instead of the Con Ed link in the statement, we prefer to use the NY State “Power To Choose” site. It provides more information on the ESCO choices you can make, from hydroelectric to 100% NY-supplied solar and wind, the rate they charge, and whether the rate is fixed for a period of months or variable. Be aware that, once a fixed-rate period expires and is not renewed, it can rise, sometimes dramatically.

For reference:

The rate for the current Con Ed default, variable “brown” mix is 13.15 cents/kWh. (ConEd does not offer a renewable option.)
The 50% renewable, 24-month fixed rate we would have gotten from Westchester Power was 11.81 cents/kWh, or 12.26 for the 100% renewable opt-in.
The 24-month fixed rate for 100% renewable energy from several other ESCOs: Clean Choice Energy 14.7, Residents Energy 15.1, and IDT Energy 15.11 cents/kWh.

This story was originally published in the TEAC Newsletter

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