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Eligible residents in New York's Hudson Valley are now receiving settlement checks related to the Community Choice Aggregation program. The program, managed by Hudson Valley Community Power, partnered with Columbia Utilities Power from July 2021 until the agreement ended early in July 2022. Participants in the program, spanning from Saugerties to Beacon, should expect checks of approximately $50 in the mail. The mailing of these checks began on April 18 and recipients must cash them within 90 days, as per the court's directive.
Hudson Valley Community Power is a community choice aggregation program that allows residents and small businesses to pool their electricity demand to secure better electricity supply terms, protect consumers, and support renewable energy sources. The program initially launched in July 2019 and has since enabled over 16,000 residents and small businesses to choose 100% renewable electricity at a competitive fixed price.
The participating communities with active electricity supply contracts through the program include the City of Poughkeepsie, Towns of Gardiner, Marbletown, New Paltz, Philipstown, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Saugerties, as well as the Villages of Cold Spring, Nelsonville, New Paltz, and Saugerties. The City of Beacon and other towns were prospective or previously active communities without active contracts.
The program relaunched in July 2023 with either 100% or 50% renewable electricity as the default offering for participating communities.