Second Times A Charm: The Scam Continues

We wrote on July 6, 2015 that Mr Feiner and his Town Board were opting-in all residents and businesses in the Town to automatically be enrolled in an unproven, unverified and unvetted startup energy company. This was done by a group of attorneys looking to develop a model they could use throughout the country to sell utility transmission of their existing ConEd power. They came up with a catchy politically correct name and the scheme was hatched as, naturally, a not-for-profit company called Sustainable Westchester and they named numerous political leaders to their Board of Directors. What could go wrong?

First, when we first posed this disaster waiting to be approved after getting a tip from inside 177 Hillside Avenue, we did some digging. We came to find out that many area politicians we in an enviable position to further the Sustainable Westchester agenda which simply was to enlist as many unwitting and unknowing participants as possible from their communities. We had maintained then, as we do now, that if it were truly worthwhile and on the up-and-up, the Town Board would have advertised this and had residents opt-IN. But it wasn't a good deal for residents no matter how much lipstick they smeared on this pig!

Here are the Board of Directors as of the initial offering as we reported back in 2015:
- Noam Bramson (Mayor, New Rochelle)
- Chris Burdick (Supervisor, Bedford)
- Joe Carvin (President, One World United & Virtuous): a hedge fund lawyer, was the former Rye Town Supervisor who recently ran against Kristin Gillibrand for her Senate seat and lost.
- Dan Chorost (Environmental Attorney): He is a law partner who regularly litigates complex Superfund matters. Dan blocked construction of a natural gas pipeline through critical environmental areas of Westchester County on behalf of Cortlandt. ABG wonders if he does this to foster more returns for Sustainable Westchester?
- Sara Goddard (Founder, Rye Sustainability Committee): She authored the report on sustainability for Rye.
- Mike Gordon (CEO, Joule Assets): He is responsible for conceptualizing and developing products and services for Joule Assets. He specializes in serving end users in deregulated wholesale electricity markets.
- Peter McCartt (Media and Marketing, Business Development): Peter sits on the environmental committee for the Town of Eastchester.
- Herb Oringel; Is the Treasurer and one of the founders of the Northern Westchester Energy Action Consortium as well as Sustainable Westchester.
- Camilo Patrignani is the CEO of Greenwood Energy. Greenwood is in the U.S. and seven countries in Latin America. They are part of the privately owned international Libra Group which controls over 30 subsidiaries operating across six continents. Libra has substantial renewable energy interests as a prime operator in Europe. Greenwood has a strategic relationship with EuroEnergy which undertook the Libra Group’s first solar investment in 2005 through the acquisition of a local developer. Other Libra subsidiaries are involved in shipping, aviation, hospitality and real estate as well as a range of diversified investments.- Tom Roach (Mayor, White Plains)
-Laura Rossi: is the Executive Director of the Westchester Community Foundation. Prior to her career in philanthropy she practiced law in New York City and Westchester, and worked for local and statewide nonprofits on behalf of women’s rights and farmworker rights.
- Nancy Seligson (Supervisor, Town of Mamaroneck)
- Mike Spano (Mayor, Yonkers)

Sure we know that people come and go. Politicians get elected or ousted from office all the time - except in Greenburgh, so we reached out to what was then Sustainable Westchester and is now known as Westchester Power, A Program of Sustainable Westchester and wondered why the name change? We couldn't find out. We did get a response to an email inquiry we sent Westchester Power (below). The two questions we asked Westchester Power were simple: What is the difference between purchasing the transmission of ConEd's energy supply from ConEd or Westchester Power and who are the Board of Directors for Westchester Power? Going to the website link they provided (below), not much has changed regarding their Board from two years ago. 

"Sustainable Westchester is a member-based non-profit corporation.
Our members are the municipalities
of Westchester (all but 3 at this point) and the board is made up of
representatives of those municipalities
and some private individuals. The board make is shown
at https://sustainablewestchester.org/board-of-directors/.

As for comparing with Con Ed, we are insignificant in comparison.
They are a  huge public utility and we are
a community non profit. The Westchester Power electricity
purchasing program that we administer has a
significant number of customers (around 100,000, or
approx 1/3 of the residential and small business accounts
in Westchester), but we have 5 full time and 4 part-time
staff working out of our Mount Kisco officce to cover
that and all of the other Sustainable Westchester activity
(electric vehicle, energy efficiency, waste and
recycling programs). Con Ed covers Westchester and
NYC and has over 15,000 employees. 

Hope that's helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Wishing you and yours a great Thanksgiving,

Dan Welsh

Program Director

Westchester Power

A Program of Sustainable Westchester

914-242-4725"

As an aside, we find it interesting that City of Rye,with Sara Goddard as their sustainability leader and Westchester Power Board of Director, has now implemented a plastic bag ban and a 10-cent fee for paper bags from merchants. And a separate law was also passed in November requiring food establishments to hide plastic straws and not offer them to patrons unless requested. I wonder if they realize that chipping away at their tax base can have more negative consequences to their business community and ultimately their Village than a couple of biodegradable plastic straws in a landfill? 

After two years and constant monitoring by the Sprain Brook Civic Association President Ken Stahn, he has repeatedly reached out to Mr Feiner and his Board seeking clarification as to the savings, or in this case the lack thereof, that Mr Feiner promised of $400-$600 per homeowner should they enroll in the ESCO. Not only have no homeowners reaped any substantial savings if they switched from ConEd to Sustainable Westchester, rather there were months that saw ConEd being less costly for the transmission of their own energy than Sustainable Westchester. Whenever Mr Stahn would push Mr Feiner even more for answers, Mr Feiner would forward the questions to Sustainable Westchester, Now Westchester Power to either be ignored or answered with non-conclusive jargon.

Below are the rest of the documents that came out in this mailer that has the Westchester Power logo as well as the Town logo. While we believe it is an illegal use of the Town's logo, gimmicks, con-games and questionable actions out of the corner office never cease to amaze. The hope is that you, the overwrought junk-mail recipient, looked at this mailing, thought it was junk and put it in your recycle bin. This is exactly what Westchester Power and Mr Feiner want you to do. If you respond as they hope, you are automatically enrolled. Why is Mr Feiner so keen on this shady method of operation? It's the same as locks, which are said to be designed to keep honest people out. Don't fall for this scheme. Opt-OUT by going to the Westchester Power website (www.westchesterpower.org) or calling them (914-242-4725) and tell them you want out! It's the only way we'll get A Better Greenburgh.