For many people like me participating in a new community solar program in Rochester, the early months of the initiative seemed too good to be true: dirt-cheap RG&E bills, or sometimes no bills at all.
The bills for the two-bedroom cape where my wife and I live in Brighton were at times bizarrely low. For the three months starting in July, we paid a total of $50.19.
It turned out to be too good to be true for me and hundreds of others.
Over time, the bills began to swell. Many people were struck out of nowhere by gargantuan RG&E bills, some of them unimaginably over $1,000.
This is the shared experience of what state regulators say are at least 1,600 utilities in Brighton, Canandaigua, Victor and other locations that have joined municipally sponsored community solar programs operated by Source Power Company and launched in January 2021 with a guarantee to provide them. to save. money.
Many customers have endured a year of RG&E bills going up and down for reasons never explained, and are now facing hefty RG&E bill delinquencies. Despite other promises, they are also facing huge bills from Source Power, a small power company based in Westchester County.
The erratic billing has angered customers and city officials and led to an investigation by the state public service, though the agency has kept the investigation’s progress a secret.
“I’m frustrated I haven’t heard from the PSC again,” said Brighton Supervisor William Moehle. “No customer should ever have to open an account and see what kind of stuff they saw on those accounts. That should never happen.”
Moehle said he suspects Source Power is responsible for the charges that led to skyrocketing bills and accused RG&E of failing to block them.
“They sent bills, or didn’t send bills, without scrutinizing in any way what happened,” Moehle said.
In the interest of full disclosure, please note that I filed a complaint with the PSC regarding the billing issue before being asked to write this story for CITY. The complaint led to a call from an RG&E representative, who told me that the utility company was not to blame for the high bills some were receiving.
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The PSC, Source Power and RG&E all declined to answer questions from CITY, although some of what happened and what is being done about it can be gleaned from a brief statement the agency issued in response to questions and correspondence from RG& E shared with clients including me.
In its statement, the PSC promised that customers “will be held harmless” and responsible parties will be held accountable.
Meanwhile, affected customers recently began receiving letters from RG&E explaining that the bills swollen were the result of adjustments that should not have been made. The letters stated that separate accounts for arrears would come from Source Power and that a new way of raising money had been devised for Source Power.
RG&E wrote that it has a 60-day hold on the accounts of affected customers.
I am one of those customers. Our last bill, which was not abnormally high, was issued and paid at the end of December.
But Moehle said he had heard of residents claiming they continued to receive new high bills despite RG&E’s apparent freeze. He also said he’s heard of people who swear they’ve never signed up for the community tanning program.
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According to the city, about 1,000 Brighton residents have opted for the city’s solar program. Moehle said the city has filed a complaint with the PSC after officials began hearing of widespread billing issues.
Sarah Rosenberg, resident of Brighton, is an affected customer.
She recalled being “shocked” when she saw her monthly bill on her RG&E phone app in February and saw that she owed $1,267.37. Three quarters of that amount was a mysterious “adjustment” charge from Source Power.
“I said to myself, ‘That can’t be correct in any way,'” she said. “Within five minutes of opening the app, I was on the phone with RG&E. And it snowballed from there.”
She said an RG&E representative told her to ignore the Source Power charge, which she said she did.
But the former accountant and chartered accountant wanted to know where the accusation came from. So she analyzed one year’s bills and determined that an unusually high spring bill, which RG&E explained as routine, was actually caused by Source Power skipping costs.
Rosenberg concluded that she owes Source Power money, but is not sure how much, because her accounts contain so many credits and expenses from the company.
“To this day I have absolutely no idea or explanation for what this is,” Rosenberg said recently.
The roots of the billing problem lie in the intricate way community solar programs are funded.
These programs guarantee a lower monthly electricity bill for consumers who together support a local solar farm. In the case of the Source Power program, for example, the company promised consumers a savings of about 5 percent of what they would otherwise have paid each month.
The programs give participating consumers credits that are applied to reduce their utility company’s monthly electricity bill. The size of the credits varies from month to month depending on how much electricity the solar farm generates, but they can be significant – much more than is needed to achieve the guaranteed savings.
Customers then pay the program operator, such as Source Power, monthly amounts equal to the value of the credits not used to realize the guaranteed savings.
Think of it like a Groupon. Customers get a $30 coupon, but spend $25 to get it.
Community solar programs had billed consumers monthly to get the money back they needed, but many consumers found this method inconvenient and confusing.
To allay customer frustration, the PSC commissioned utilities to develop systems that would allow monthly solar credit allocation and chargebacks to be done automatically through the utility.
The development of such systems was slow and full of errors.
Jessica Stromback, chief executive of Joule Community Power, a company that has worked with Brighton, Canandaigua and Victor on another renewable energy program, said the PSC had not authorized companies such as Source Power to operate this so-called “net credit” system. use.
She added that it appeared that Source Power was trying to use the system anyway.
Attempts to address monthly charges for RG&E bills in early 2021 ended due to technical issues, Stromback said.
The massive “adjustments” to accounts early this year — to which RG&E’s letter referred — appear to have been Source Power trying to collect overdue amounts in one fell swoop.
The RG&E letter also suggested that Source Power will have another chance to collect from customers by adding solar “subscription fees” to participants’ monthly RG&E bills.
The billing issues have led some customers to stop using solar from the community and spark skepticism about government-sponsored renewable energy programs.
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But Moehle pointed to a positive experience his city has had with the other clean energy program offered to consumers in Brighton, Canandaigua and Victor: community choice aggregation, or CCA. To see also : Renewable energy OK, but not too close to home.
- In a CCA program, a municipality requests quotes from the electricity market for a specific power supply for residents and small businesses. Their aggregate purchasing power can command good prices in the market.
- Brighton clients, Canandaigua and Victor, who have partnered with Joule, have signed contracts for hydroelectric power plants in the state. The rates are fixed for the duration of two years of the contract.
- Icon/Source was the winning bidder and offered a community solar add-on with the approval of the municipalities.
- Residents and small business customers were enrolled in the CCA unless they opted out, and approximately 10,000 Brighton residents stayed in. No issues have been reported with CCA billing, which is relatively straightforward.
- The hydropower rate was slightly below the average rate offered by RG&E at the time of the bidding. Since then, the price of electricity has skyrocketed due to market, weather and geopolitical factors, and the CCA’s flat rate is proving to be a steal.
- Moehle said Brighton’s city-sponsored CCA program has saved taxpayers more than $1 million in 15 months. The flat rate is about 20 percent lower than what RG&E currently charges.
“The CCA has really performed incredibly well,” said Moehle.
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The Public Service Commission has prepared a paper for material related to its investigation into the billing issue, although it was blank at the time of printing.
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To check for documents or to submit a comment to the PSC, go to www.dps.ny.gov, open the search box and enter the roll number, which is 22-00567.
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Rochester is known as the "Young Lion of the West" the "Meelstad," and the "City of Flowers." Rochester is also known for its unique and impressive history in photography, xerography and optics, along with its leadership role in manufacturing/research activities and impressive teaching resources in both …
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Is Rochester a well-known city? Rochester is known for its large population, many large companies, and well-developed infrastructure. The city has a former Erie Canal stop, as well as many historic buildings, colleges, and cultural events.
Rochester became known as the birthplace and home of some of America’s most iconic companies, most notably Eastman Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb (along with Wegmans, Gannett, Paychex, Western Union, French’s, Constellation Brands, Ragú and others), leading the region became a global center for science, …
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I was born and raised in Rochester, NY, an old town historically known as the birthplace of companies such as Cunningham Stage Coach, Bausch and Lamb, Eastman Kodak Co. and xerox. First dubbed the “Young Lion of the West†thanks to our Erie Canal, we were one of America’s first boomtowns.
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The city of Rochester has been nicknamed “The Flower City” since the 1850s, when it boasted the world’s largest seed company, The Ellwanger & Barry Nursery, among other major seed companies. The city’s logo is based on the shape of a flower and represents a history deeply rooted in its identity.
The city’s most historic nicknames are ‘Flower City’ and ‘Flower City’ due to the thriving flour and seed industry at the time. It should probably also be called “Snow City†. Rochester is one of the snowiest cities in the country. It receives an average of 89.3 inches of snow per year.
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The city’s most historic nicknames are ‘Flower City’ and ‘Flower City’ due to the thriving flour and seed industry at the time. It should probably also be called “Snow City†. Rochester is one of the snowiest cities in the country. It receives an average of 89.3 inches of snow per year.
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Rochester, New York is known by locals as “the Flower City”. Home to hundreds of thousands of American citizens and international travelers, it’s filled with a slew of professionals, artists, and free spirits. It is located in Monroe County, just a few miles south of beautiful Lake Ontario.
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Known as The Flower City and The World’s Image Center, Rochester is the third largest city in New York State after New York City and Buffalo. Lake Ontario lies to the north, with the Genesee River flowing north through the city and over a series of three waterfalls.
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Rochester is also known for its culture, especially music culture; institutions such as the Eastman School of Music (considered one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world) and the Rochester International Jazz Festival anchor a vibrant music industry, ranked as one of the top 10 music scenes in…
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| The city of Rochester has been nicknamed “The Flower City” since the 1850s, when it boasted the world’s largest seed company, The Ellwanger & Barry Nursery, among other major seed companies. The city’s logo is based on the shape of a flower and represents a history deeply rooted in its identity. | The name Rochester is an English boy’s name and means “stone camp or fortress”. |
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| Known as The Flower City and The World’s Image Center, Rochester is the third largest city in New York State after New York City and Buffalo. | Rochester has six sister cities around the world, including one in France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Poland and Mali. 26. When French’s mustard company was in Rochester, the address was 1. Mustard Street. It was the first company to sell mustard on a large scale. |
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The oven on your gas stove is also lit by electric ignition, eliminating the need for a standing pilot light. 1990 and newer gas ovens cannot be lit without power being supplied. You cannot light the oven with a match.
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Visit the PSC website at dps.ny.gov/complaints. Call the PSC helpline at 800.342. 3377, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. If your complaint concerns an NYSEG account, you will not be asked to pay the disputed portion of the bill while the case is being reviewed by the PSC.