ESCO Hell in Greenburgh

It should not be this difficult or, in fact, shady. But this is a case of deflection whose timing played right into Mr Feiner’s (aka Mr Transparency) hands. We’ve written previously about why we believe joining the Sustainable Westchester ESCO is a mistake. ESCO is short for Energy Savings COmpany. 

 

Unfortunately, Mr Feiner disregarded all input from the public and ABG believes instructed his Town Board to approve this measure. They did so unanimously. What they didn’t do was any due diligence, follow the process in place to qualify the vendor or invest the effort to answer questions and issues raised by the G10 and the public at large. They couldn’t vet the company as they are an experimental startup. Experimental in that it is a group of lawyers, with a Board of Directors comprised of local politicians.

With a minimal amount of effort, we found these two web sites below. They both allow you to search for ESCO’s in New York and specifically, by your zip code, to see the rates charged/available and by what companies. We found there were many other choices available to consumers. These were never presented to the public by Mr Feiner or the Town Board. Go ahead, check them out...

http://callmepower.com/ny/suppliers/reviews#east-coast

https://www.chooseenergy.com/shop/residential/electricity/NY/11423/consolidated-edison-co-ny-electricity/

ABG has maintained why we have been steadfastly against remaining in the Sustainable Westchester ESCO. First, Mr Feiner and his Town Board enrolled all 90,000+ residents into it without their authorization or approval. Second, he and his Board passed a law forcing ConEd, most likely your current supplier, to release your information to this group of lawyers. Third, with the radical drop in energy cost within the last several years, there is little gain by joining an ESCO. You can equate this to home heating fuel. Many homeowners that heat with oil will pre-purchase their oil at a pre-season rate, hoping if the price goes up, that they guessed correctly and locked in with a better rate. Fourth, we shouldn’t have to opt-OUT of this program; rather, we should have to opt-IN. This would be democracy at its finest. Instead we get “Feiner democracy.”

So, what is shady about all of this? About half of the Board of Directors for Sustainable Westchester are comprised of Mayors and Town Supervisors. They include but are not limited to: Noam Bramson (Mayor of New Rochelle), Chris Burdick (Supervisor of Bedford), Tom Roach (Mayor of White Plains), Nancy Seligson (Supervisor of the Town of Mamaroneck) and finally Mike Spano, Mayor of Yonkers. 

ABG still cannot understand how these leaders can be on the Board of Directors of a company doing business with their town or city? 

Once again, the Master of Deflection will get his way due to his choreographing something else to take the heat: revaluation. Sadly, Mr Feiner’s days are planned around different schemes. Some hold water, most don’t. For right now, he’s on a roll and the taxpayers are paying for it. We believe he will also be offered a Directorship position with Sustainable Westchester. Then everything will have gone full-circle. It has to stop. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.