Public Service Commission Confirms Joule Can Provide Municipalities Opt-Out Community Solar

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 16, 2021, the State of New York Public Service Commission (PSC) issued a declaratory ruling affirming that Joule Assets is permitted to offer Community Distributed Generation (CDG) on an opt-out basis as part of an integrated program that includes a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) electricity supply product. To date, five municipalities in three utility service territories already have been approved by the Department of Public Service to offer opt-out community solar, including two launching now. Joule is appreciative that the PSC has provided clarity that we will continue to be permitted to offer opt-out CDG along with electricity supply through our CCA programs.

Twenty-one municipalities in NY State so far have authorized Joule to administrate integrated opt-out programs that include both CDG and electricity supply offerings. To serve these communities, Joule has already contracted for 25MW of CDG and issued three additional solicitations expected to be awarded later this year seeking 250+ MW of CDG capacity in three service territories.

The PSC stated regarding the decision, referring to several outstanding proposals (including Joule's) that would allow CCA programs to proceed with or without active electricity programs in parallel, "This Declaratory Ruling clarifies our current rules while further consideration is given to matters pending before the Commission that seek authorization to offer independent CDG products on an opt-out basis."

Joule CEO Jessica Stromback states, "We are happy to have received this decision from the PSC confirming Joule's ability to do business under our current parallel supply/CDG offerings. This regulatory certainty allows opt-out CDG to continue to function in the rest of the state—providing 10% reductions on solar credits to our municipal residents beginning with Low- and Moderate-Income residents.  This is good news for Joule, good news for residents, and good news for the CDG industry."

ABOUT JOULE COMMUNITY POWER
Joule Community Power, a division of Joule Assets, is developing a clean energy future by bringing the power of choice to municipalities across New York State, empowering local decision-making, enabling access to cleaner and cheaper energy, and making it easier for New Yorkers to transition to renewable energy. Through community choice aggregation (CCA), Joule helps municipalities join together to aggregate the buying power of residents at large enough scale to negotiate more favorable terms of their energy contracts, decrease electricity costs, designate renewable generation sources, choose clean energy, increase consumer protection, select a default energy services company, support local renewable generation, and deliver the benefits of solar, or other renewables, to entire communities. Joule, the only CCA Administrator in NY State with a Public Service-Commission-approved implementation plan that integrates community solar, launched the first and only community choice solar program in the country, bringing the benefits of solar to entire communities. Having created the blueprint to guide communities through a smooth and empowering process that moves energy consumers away from fossil fuels to clean energy, Joule aims to scale its Community Power model across NY State and beyond. As of June 30, 2021, Joule provided access to clean energy and community solar to more than 330,000 households in 39 communities. To learn more, visit joulecommunitypower.com.

SOURCE Joule Community Power