BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in Canton is in the stretch run.

Village officials have been presented an Energy Supply Agreement (ESA) from Joule Community Power with a timeline in place.

Village Trustee Klaus Proemm has noted that in June, a letter will be mailed to village residents explaining options offered by Joule Community Power with a goal to begin receiving power from a renewable source in August.

A public outreach via Zoom will be held Tuesday, March 28, at 6 p.m.

“By sourcing all renewable energy, we'll both save money for residents, or we won't do it) and lessen the burning of fossil fuels, thereby lowering our carbon footprint, minimizing climate impacts,” stated Proemm earlier in the CCA process. “All residents will have the ability to opt out, both at the start, and at any time after.”

The CCA process timeline to the board is as follows:

A March 23: ESA webinar will discuss the Memorandum of Understanding and ESA and any questions officials have before a Request for Proposal (RFP) is sent out.

March 27: Municipal feedback on the ESA is due to Joule.

March 29: RFP will be sent out by Joule to multiple suppliers so that they can return with offers and electricity prices.

April 19: Bids from suppliers are due with indicative pricing, contract terms and length options.

April 20: 2 p.m. RFP responses webinar to discuss the bids received, review terms and prices. As a reminder there will be a window between April 20 to May 3 to review the bids and Joule’s recommendations for award (or non-award if no bids meet the compliance criteria) before approval of the MOU with ESA signature page.

April 20 to May 3: It is possible more than one bid from suppliers will be received. Joule will further reach out to set up follow-up meetings to discuss the bids in further detail. This will be done to support the team in making an informed decision and to make sure they have had the opportunity to understand the offers.

May 3: To move forward, the board will submit the municipality’s completed and signed MOU and provide the name and contact information of who is approved to release the MOU on the pricing days of May 8-11.

May 8-11: Final supplier pricing will be submitted and refreshed daily during these four business days, until pricing is below the benchmarks set in the MOU.

For more information about the Village of Canton Community Power program, please visit www.joulecommunitypower.com/cantonvillage