ESCO Scam Perpetuated On Taxpayers Again

 A Message to All From the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations:

The original intent was to wait a few more days to receive Con Edison bills for the month of December and then issue a 2020 year-end table demonstrating the cost difference to five residents who “opted out” of the ESCO contract for electric supply in which the Greenburgh Town Board enrolled nearly 12,000 resident and small businesses users.

However, in response to a number of calls, the Executive Board of the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations feels it necessary to reply to some misinformation that the Town released Wednesday (1/13/21) in an email blast regarding the new 18-month ESCO contract.

The Town’s email stated:  “We’re happy to announce that the Town of Greenburgh and our neighboring communities will be renewing our participation in Sustainable Westchester’s Westchester Power (WP) program.”  In fact, more than half of Greenburgh’s “neighboring communities” – Town of Mount Pleasant, Village of Elmsford, Town of Scarsdale, Town of Eastchester, City of Yonkers – have never participated in this Westchester Power program.

While it is true that the Westchester Power program did offer a “clean electricity supply choice since 2016,” Greenburgh residents and small businesses were not part of that choice.  Instead, the Town enrolled Greenburgh residents and small businesses in the “standard option” which means they have been paying for electricity to be supplied mainly by fossil fuels and nuclear.  Thus, no tons of greenhouse gases have been mitigated.

The only thing Greenburgh residents and small businesses who had not “opted out” could rely on was a fixed rate of 7.709 cents per kilowatt hour. And, that fixed rate has been costly to those Greenburgh residents and small businesses. The CGCA urges you to compare that fixed rate price with the kWh costs listed on the attached table for five properties that did “opt out.”

Please focus attention on the column for Property #5. As the table indicates, over the past 22 months this property has paid considerably less each month for electricity than the 7.709 cents per kWh cost charged by the Town’s chosen ESCO.  The most recent cost to Property #5 was 5.5 cents per kWh, mainly for the month of November.  While this mere 2.209 cents saved per kWh may not appear great, please be aware that Property #5 is a “total electric living” household.  The owner is the sole occupant who rarely uses the oven and carefully controls indoor temperatures.  Even so, 1,544 kWh of electricity were used between November 5 and December 9.  That 2.209 cents difference amounted to a savings of over $35 for this time period.  Even greater numbers of kWh will likely be used and more savings may be possible in the colder months ahead.

Can you imagine what the electricity costs are to a “total electric living” four-bedroom townhouse, such as those at Westchester Hills, occupied by four or more family members? Electricity is used to heat or cool the rooms; run an oven for hours to cook meals including roasting that Thanksgiving turkey; heat hot water for multiple residents to take showers, wash dishes, wash clothes; dry laundry; provide lighting; and power refrigerators, TVs, computers and numerous other appliances.

The Town’s choice for the 2-year (2019-2020) ESCO contract has been quite costly for "total electric living" residents and the almost 12,000 other residents and small business electricity users.  Yet, the Town has failed to take any responsibility to inform users of this cost factor over the past two years.  This is especially troubling during this last year when so many residents and small business owners have been negatively impacted financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new 18-month ESCO contract the Town approved becomes effective with January 2021 meter readings and does provide for the “green” sustainable option at a cost of 7.405 cents per kWh which is slightly less expensive that what users have been paying.  We will have to wait to see what the financial impact will be.

The Town’s January 13 email contained other inaccurate and dated information that is not worth addressing at this time. Hopefully, in the months ahead, the Town will do a better job of reading information it receives before posting it on the Town’s website.  And hopefully it will provide accurate and up-to-date information, as it promised, on whether this new green ESCO contract is to your advantage.

Stay safe and well.
Ella Preiser, CGCA Secretary

Believability

Is believability for a politician necessary to govern successfully? We think it should be. That’s why we were a bit dismayed when our local daily paper had an article about “Tackling The Flood.” It went on to discuss the efforts of three communities, Scarsdale, Eastchester and New Rochelle, and how they’ve begun to execute a plan to alleviate flooding along the Hutchinson River in their respective communities. Each signed an agreement, entitled the Hutchinson River Flood Mitigation Project, to try to do something about flooding in their communities. Will they accomplish their goal? We’re not sure, but we believe they will try. Welcome to hurricane season.

The same issue has been brought up at countless meetings for the town of Greenburgh, by different people as well as different organizations. Sadly, with all of the talk about flooding in Greenburgh, nothing has ever been done nor changed to improve the situation during 24-years of the Feiner administration. Taxpayers, both commercial and residential, continue to get flooded. The continued flooding actively forces people to seek higher ground, ultimately with the driest solution being to move out of our town. After all, if Mr. Feiner continues to do nothing but provide lip service what other recourse is there?

Several years ago Mr. Feiner asked to create a task force to address flooding. A task force was formed. Greenburgh Commissioner Victor Carosi and the White Plains Public Works Commissioner were named co-chairs for this committee. County Legislator Alfreda Williams, is also on this commission. There may be several other people on this task force that are also of no consequence and contribute nothing to the flooding problem still being experienced by residents and businesses. Why have they not done anything after having an initial meeting, offering no subsequent plan for relief for these beleaguered taxpayers? And, now it’s hurricane season again with no solutions.

It’s easier to talk about flooding than it is to do something about it, such as coming up with a plan of attack similar to what we see with this Hutchinson River flood mitigation project. The dormant task force has not met in over two years since they were founded. We’re sure if they had they would have said there is no money or there are too many boundaries to try work with to clean the river spaces out, or to dredge them, or to somehow open them up to get a better flow of water. It’s easier to talk about it, to listen to us complain about it, than it is to fix it. After all, these elected officials and subsequent appointed officials know they will be reelected, typically without any opposition, and will reappoint their favorites once again. Losing a couple of hundred collective votes is nothing for Mr Feiner when he receives 7,000 votes running unopposed!

Whenever there is media focus either on a politician visiting the scene of a flood, or the media interviewing the flooded residents, the politicians all say that something must be done and then they point fingers at other politicians either uninvolved, not from the area, or are totally inappropriate for the problem at hand. Previously, Mr. Feiner has passed the buck to County legislators, State legislators or FEMA and the federal government. In fact he told one resident from Old Kensico Road that he would reach out to FEMA on their behalf to see about purchasing their flooded property. He knew that was a lie because the municipality must first perform a number of steps before FEMA will even entertain involvement. It made for great TV sound bytes but little else. Finally, after receiving no help for assistance of any kind from Mr. Feiner, specifically the Town, the County, State, or Federal government, especially FEMA, those same residents sold their house at a loss and moved to another area!

Mr. Feiner went to great lengths to appear on News 12 to bemoan the lack of action by other politicians for his valued constituents. These so-called valued constituents quickly realized that they were mere pawns in Mr. Feiner’s attempt to gain more publicity for himself. While he was successful in beating the drum getting publicity for himself, he threw a small portion of his constituency, literally, down the river along with many of their prized, ruined or irreplaceable possessions. Now that hurricane season is upon us the proverbial barn door has already been closed as the flooding begins once again. With all the development that has taken place in the region there are only two outlets for rainwater to go. The first on the west side of Greenburgh is the Saw Mill River. The second is on the east side of Greenburgh and that is the Bronx River. After the flooding caused by hurricane and tropical storm Irene, the Village of Elmsford mounted a campaign to clean out the Saw Mill River after a resident videotaped the debris blocking the waters flow causing some of the flooding in the area. Mr Feiner jumped on that bandwagon and received all kinds of publicity, but actually did nothing while the flooding continues.

During all the hype that Mr. Feiner and others utilized for their advantage, they ignored the Bronx River corridor and the residents that live near it. They too were severely flooded during Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Sandy. At no point beyond the TV cameras did Mr. Feiner or other politicians offer to do anything to remediate the problems in the Bronx River corridor and the flow of water, especially during even minor storms. Mr. Feiner remains dry and aloof in his gated community in Boulder Ridge. Other politicians also remain dry during storms and bad weather. The role of government is to protect its people – all of its people! That hasn’t happened for those that live along the two corridors that parallel the only two rivers out of the Town and County. Both the Bronx River and the Saw Mill River need attention and residents need relief!

Every community that has the river passing through it needs to take ownership and responsibility for keeping the river clear. Individuals must participate as well. One simple thing individuals can do is simply don’t litter – it clogs our storm drains and ultimately our rivers. By collectively doing this it will help to allow the flow of water to better reach the sound shore waterways and other outlets and not back up into our neighborhoods, homes, and businesses.  By investing in our infrastructure and maintaining all of our wetland areas, we will be helping everyone enjoy a better quality of living in our towns and villages. This needs to happen sooner rather than later so we can have A Better Greenburgh.