Dear Editor,
If you live in the Town of Spencer or Town or Village of Owego, your electricity supplier is about to be changed without your vote to an energy supply company (ESCO) of MEGA’s choice. MEGA (Municipal Electric and Gas Alliance) seeks to aggregate us and administer this program on behalf of us, the residents, and small businesses in these three plus ten other municipalities.
New York is one of seven states permitted to aggregate its residents with the intention of decentralizing energy provision, allowing it to be more locally controlled and greener for a reasonable price. It’s called Community Choice Aggregation, or CCA. A good idea – unless misrepresented, as it has been by MEGA.
Why should we speak out against this plan? For three reasons:
1 – “Community Choice” does not mean our choice. It means the choice of our municipality’s ‘liaison’ (i.e. supervisor / mayor) and MEGA.
2 – MEGA’s interest is not in bringing us greener energy, so it misrepresents the intention of CCAs. Fourteen of 20 municipalities in Westchester County’s CCA chose 100 percent renewable energy as their default electricity supply. We will not be provided that option here in the fracking sacrifice zone. We’ll get the same old fossil heavy plan.
3 – If we don’t ‘opt out’ within 30 days after we are sent a letter giving us that option, our data is provided to the ESCO of MEGA’s choice and we start receiving our electricity supply from that ESCO. MEGA counts on us to not return our ‘opt out’ letters.
While our municipality’s local law allowing MEGA to move forward will say we are being given “the opportunity to pursue goals and initiatives important to the community, such as reliability, grid resiliency, supporting renewable energy generation, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, protecting the State’s natural resources, and improving energy efficiency”, don’t believe if for a minute.
Town of Owego’s Public Hearing is Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. at the Owego Town Hall located at 2354 State Route 434. The Village of Owego has two MEGA information sessions planned for Wednesday, July 12, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the Village Hall located 20 Elm St. in Owego.
The MEGA reps are lovely, gracious young saleswomen who deserve good jobs, but not on the back of democracy. Come and speak up.
Respectfully,
Gerri Wiley
Owego, N.Y.
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