MOUNT VERNON – City Council held two special meetings this week to approve a natural gas supplier with enough time for residents to receive letters enabling them to opt out of the agreement.
The council had to hold two special meetings this week – Monday and Wednesday – to meet legal requirements and because not enough members were in attendance on Monday to push it through to a third reading immediately.
“There are statutory requirements about notice that we have to give to the participants about the opt out and ... there was a mix up in the counting of days, which is why we had to move this up,” Law Director Robert Broeren said.
Constellation Energy had the best rate based on the New York Mercantile Exchange rate plus $1.65 Mcf (thousand cubic feet)16.5 cents above the monthly New York Mercantile Exchange rate, Mayor Matt Starr said on Monday. But by Wednesday the city’s energy broker said that had dropped to $1.36 Mcf.
“The best rate that we could get essentially is a one-year rate,” Starr said.
The contract will run from April 2022 to March 2023.
“It’s always going to be below what Columbia Gas offers,” Clerk of Council Todd Hill said.
The offer as of Feb. 2 was the NYMEX monthly settlement price plus the BTU conversion factor plus $1.36/Mcf.
“Things are moving fast in the energy markets right now. I would rather not lock in the BTU conversion factor right now since the market spiked,” Tom Bellish, president of Buckeye Energy Brokers, the city’s natural gas broker, told the city via email.
City voters approved a referendum in 2011 for aggregation of Mount Vernon natural gas customers to seek cheaper rates than individual consumers could get. Property owners must opt out of the program or they will automatically be included. The city will issue a press release and use other information and education methods to reach residents so they know to check their mail for the opt out opportunities and to understand the program, Starr said.
Councilmember John Francis suggested putting a message on the back of water bills so city residents know to look for the letter.
“I mean, it’s just there’s so much junk mail out there that people don’t know what to get,” he said.
The letter will come from the mayor to make it easier for residents to understand that it’s official correspondence from the city and not seen as a sales pitch, Starr said.
