Ithaca pauses CCA outreach while DER 'Own Your Power' work continues

A staff member told the commission the city is pausing outreach on its Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program because it has not received the energy-supplier bids required to meet state outreach timing, while outreach for the distributed energy resources (DER) program—branded "Own Your Power"—will go ahead.

The staff member said a memo explaining the pause was attached to the meeting agenda and shared with Common Council, and that the city will notify interested residents by targeted email, post an update on the city webpage, and include a brief summary and a link to the memo in the May sustainability newsletter.

The update followed a meeting between city staff, Local Power and state Public Service Commission staff, the staff member said, adding that the state staff concluded the city’s DER program likely does not fall under DPS jurisdiction. "They have reversed course and said that they don't think that we fall under their jurisdiction," the staff member said, calling the clarification "welcome news." The staff member also described continuing efforts to solicit bids from smaller energy providers so the CCA could move forward if a viable pathway emerges.

Commission member Nick asked whether the city had received utility customer data necessary to target outreach. The staff member replied that a request was made but they were not sure whether the utilities had fulfilled it, and explained that the program relies on opt-in access by customers—residents must sign a letter of authorization for providers to view usage history.

The staff member said Local Power has scheduled a virtual informational meeting for Thursday at 6 p.m. and is already following up with about 10 individuals or groups who expressed interest. "We're going to send targeted emails to everyone who registered for the various CCA and DER informational meetings," the staff member said, as part of the plan to reduce confusion between the paused CCA and the continuing "Own Your Power" outreach.

Next steps described to the commission include continued bid solicitation for the CCA, targeted communications to prior meeting registrants, and ongoing promotion and follow-up for DER projects already being developed with neighbors or small groups.