By Dan Murphy
A popular green energy delivery program for more than 150,000 Westchester homeowners and businesses has been abruptly halted without explanation.
The Westchester Power program, a nonprofit-led initiative by Sustainable Westchester to provide residents and businesses in Westchester County with 100% renewable energy through a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) model, is shutting down at the end of November 2025.
Reason for Shutdown: Sustainable Westchester cited burdensome state regulations and the New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC) rejection of updated municipal filings as the primary causes. The group announced the termination on November 6, 2025, affecting 26 participating municipalities.
After the announcement of closing the program, NYS PSC spokesman James Denn said, “Sustainable Westchester failed to meet basic outreach and education standards that are in place to protect ratepayers, including providing program participants with the correct price comparison information for how their bills would be increasing compared to the default utility. Sustainable Westchester decided to terminate its CCA program on its own following the rejection of its deficient municipal filings.”
Impact on Customers: Over 100,000 participants will automatically revert to Con Edison as their default supplier starting December 1, 2025. No action is required from customers, and rates will align with Con Ed’s standard offerings. The program has delivered lower electricity rates (averaging 10-15% savings) and promoted clean energy since 2018.
Launched in 2016 to meet local climate goals, the program pooled buying power for greener electricity but faced ongoing disputes with state regulators over compliance and transparency.
Many of our readers were skeptical of the program because, in the 26 Westchester communities where the Sustainable Westchester-Westchester Power program was welcomed, they were required to opt out. If they did not opt out, they would automatically be enrolled in Westchester Power.
While some months’ utility bills for Westchester residents in the program were lower than Con Edison’s, in most months their bills were higher.
But not significantly higher, which brings us to the conclusion we’ve always had about the program: that with Westchester Power, there were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Westchester homeowners willing to pay a little bit more for green energy.
That was the backbone of Sustainable Westchester’s argument.
But for many Westchester residents who were struggling to make ends meet, they wanted the cheapest plan. And it was difficult for residents to make an accurate comparison of the rates between Con Ed and Westchester Power.
The only comment from Sustainable Westchester came in the form of a November 6 letter to the 26 municipalities in Westchester that use Westchester Power, advising them that they will have to use Con Edison or NYSEG for northern Westchester customers in December, giving them just 24 days’ notice.
The cities of New Rochelle, Yonkers, and White Plains, the towns of Greenburgh, Bedford, North Salem, and Pound Ridge, and the villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow were enrolled in the program.
The letter from Sustainable Westchester’s Executive Director, Noam Bramson, reads in part,
“Following extensive discussion with New York State officials, consultation with energy suppliers, and analysis of trends affecting community energy programs statewide, Sustainable Westchester has made the difficult but necessary decision to discontinue the Westchester Power program.
“Recent outreach and education requirements mandated by the State Public Service Commission – while grounded in important goals of transparency, consumer protection, and affordability that we fully share – have, in practice, presented significant implementation challenges for community energy programs like ours. Although our outreach and education activities in recent months have been, by far, the most extensive and robust in the program’s history, we are unable to obtain State authorization to launch the new contract on schedule.
“Before closing and in this spirit, I want to emphasize that Westchester Power is just one of many services that Sustainable Westchester is proud to offer our municipal members. From GridRewards to Solarize, from EnergySmart Homes to the Clean Energy Accelerator, from MOVE to Municipal Thermal Energy Networks and more, our programming is robust, wide-ranging, and user-friendly. We touch thousands of lives every day and offer a proven model for regional collaboration. If you have not already partnered with us to take full advantage of our expertise and programming, then please consider this a renewed invitation to join us,” writes Bramson, the former Mayor of New Rochelle.
The changes made by the NYS PSC, a State Agency, in 2024 required energy providers, including Westchester Power, to provide more information about their energy bills. “At a time when New York consumers are facing increasing prices for the majority of commodities, it is more important than ever that CCA administrators are completing the minimum outreach and education requirements before being allowed to opt out and enroll eligible customers in a program that will increase their energy utility bills,” Denn said.
Denn’s blunt criticism of Westchester Power should not be overlooked, nor should the requirements, which seemed simple, to lengthen the outreach and community education period before a contract was approved.
It estimates that the Westchester Power program reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 million metric tons, equivalent to taking 35,000 gas-powered cars off the road.
Supporters like Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner were disappointed in the decision.
Editor’s Note:
If 150,000 customers were using Westchester Power, wouldn’t it make sense to comply with the PSC and reopen the program? Even with a delay of several months?
And even if half of the customers never wanted to be in the program and opted out, is there a benefit —or a business model —for the 75,000 remaining customers?
What the PSC is asking for is something many of our readers wanted: more information about opting out and a price comparison. That is not a difficult hurdle to overcome.
