WESTCHESTER, NY (November 8, 2025) — Michael Balter of the Croton Chronicle obtained, and was first to publish, a letter from Sustainable Westchester Executive Director Noam Bramson to municipalities participating in the Westchester Program, reprinted here in its entirety.
Bramson’s letter is misleading, for reasons we reported here: Westchester Power Customers Fed Misinformation, Denied Opt-Out Rights in Ethics and Regulatory Collapse.
To Chief Elected Officials, Chief Administrative Officials, and Westchester Power Program Liaisons:
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. With the expiration of the current contract at the end of November, residents and small businesses currently enrolled in Westchester Power will receive notification of the program’s end and will return to either Con Edison or NYSEG as their default electricity supplier.
Before providing additional explanation, let me acknowledge that this news is deeply disappointing to our team and, no doubt, to municipal leaders who have supported the program for years. We had been preparing to implement a new contract with a lower rate in December and to evolving Westchester Power for greater positive impact. We know this program has been a cornerstone of climate action, and its conclusion represents a setback in advancing clean energy goals across our region.
Why is this happening?
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.
Importantly, these challenges are not specific to Sustainable Westchester or Westchester Power. New York’s other Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) administrators have wrestled with similar implementation obstacles. Underscoring the broad impact of New York’s regulatory environment on community energy initiatives, one administrator has already wound down its operations in the state, and the other has scaled back its work in order to evaluate the changing landscape. These factors also impact the energy suppliers from whom Sustainable Westchester receives renewable electricity, and who are, therefore, integral to the program’s operation.
Some municipal leaders will recall that a few years ago, during a prior instance of program stress, we suspended service and then resumed it several months later. Please know that we gave careful consideration to this option – that is, pausing the program and then re-commencing service in early 2026 under the contracts you have already approved. State regulators, however, determined that any break in service would require the subsequent launch of a new program, rather than the continuation of an existing program. This is an important distinction that would entail significant delays (pushing us much further into 2026) and add still another layer of complex regulatory obligations and approvals. We reluctantly concluded that this pathway would impose heavy burdens on municipal leaders, generate considerable public confusion, and, in all likelihood, eventually run up against the same imposing regulatory obstacles. Transitioning now allows us to focus, without delay or distraction, on our other programming and on future models for making clean energy affordable and accessible to municipalities, residents and businesses.
None of this should diminish a well-earned sense of satisfaction in what Westchester Power has accomplished across the past decade. More than any other single program – and, in fact, more than all other municipal programs combined – Westchester Power has been responsible for reducing regional greenhouse gas emissions and enabling tens of thousands of consumers to access clean energy. These achievements are worthy of celebration, and I hope you will take pride in all you have done to support an innovative model that achieved so much good.
What do municipal leaders need to do?
You will soon receive a separate email with a “termination letter” from the Westchester Power energy supplier, Constellation. This letter will require your signature via the Sertifi e-sign process, the same process that has been used for prior program approvals. Once signed by all parties, Constellation will return the completed documents to each municipality, also via the e-sign process.
If you prefer not to use the e-sign process, then you can print the letter, physically sign it, and return it to: Sustainable Westchester, 40 Green Street, Mount Kisco, NY 10549, Att: Westchester Power.
Of course, you should not hesitate to review this document with your corporation counsel, but we are confident in advising you that signing the termination letter carries no risk or liability for municipalities; it is simply a necessary step for the orderly unwinding of the program.
We respectfully ask that you attend to this as soon as possible following receipt of Constellation’s email. If you have any questions about the termination letter, please contact Adam Fairbanks of Constellation at adam.fairbanks@constellation.com.
How will the public be notified?
Constellation will mail a notification of the program’s conclusion to all customers. Municipal leaders have no responsibilities or obligations on this front. However, recognizing that some municipal leaders may want on a voluntary basis to share information with their community, we have prepared a simple suggested message that can be incorporated into an email blast, placed on your website, or used to reply to inquiries. Our suggested message is attached to this email as a PDF. Again, this is entirely optional on your part, and you should always feel free to refer questions directly to Sustainable Westchester.
What’s next?
In the days ahead, I will follow up with phone calls to the chief elected officials of all Westchester Power communities. (Of course, you can also feel free to call me at 914-907-9545.) I look forward to answering questions, providing further detail, and considering fresh opportunities for progress. Let’s talk about how Sustainable Westchester can do even more to advance your community’s climate and environmental goals.
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.
All of us at Sustainable Westchester look forward to standing at your side in the vital, ongoing work of building healthy, affordable, equitable, and sustainable communities.
Most sincerely,
Noam Bramson (he/him)
Executive Director
40 Green Street, Mount Kisco, NY 10549
www.sustainablewestchester.org
noam@sustainablewestchester.org
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