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Minutes of the General Membership Meeting of the Westmoreland Association

November 19, 2018

Officers Present
President - Walter Mugdan
Vice President - Victor Dadras
Treasurer – Gary Savage

Board Members Present
Peter Reinharz
David Diaz

Officials Present
Seth Urbinder -- Assemblyman Ed Braunstein’s office

President Walter Mugdan called the meeting to order at 8:05 P.M. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously adopted to waive reading of the minutes. (Mr. Mugdan noted that the minutes are available for review on the Westmoreland website.)

Gary Savage provided the Treasurer’s Report indicating that the balance-on-hand was $ as of November , 2018. A motion was made to accept the Treasurer’s report. The motion was seconded, and the report was unanimously approved.

New Business
Walter Mugdan announced that at 7 PM on December 5, Community Board 11 and the 111th NYPD Precinct will host a meeting at the Adria Hotel to inform residents about a series of recent burglaries in our area.

Walter introduced our guest speaker, Travis Tench, Director of Outreach for Power Market, who spoke about "the Community Solar option." This is a program through which individual residential customers can choose to purchase electricity from a solar energy producer, and realize a discount on their total electric bill, without installation of any equipment on their own roof and in an essentially risk-free arrangement.

The program is authorized by New York State and is intended to make it possible for residents who do not have houses suitable for rooftop solar installation (e.g., wrong orientation, too much shading, renters who do not own, etc.) to nevertheless support larger-scale solar projects in their electric service area, and help the state achieve its goal of 50% renewably generated electricity by 2030.

The program works as follows: A developer undertakes a larger scale solar installation (e.g., on the roof of a warehouse or a "big box store"). Residents who choose to join the program can sign up to receive an "allocation" or share of the project that matches their anticipated electricity needs. Each month, as the solar project produces electricity, the resident's ConEd bill will be credited for their proportional share of the actual output of the solar project that month. This credit amount is subtracted from the resident's Con Ed bill.

The resident then receives a bill from the solar project for 90% of the amount of the Con Ed credit. In other words, for every dollar of credit received on their Con Ed bill, the resident pays 90 cents to the solar company, for a net savings of 10% from Con Ed's usual charge for the number of credited kilowatt hours.

Example: Following is an imaginary scenario, using imaginary numbers, in order to illustrate the process:

•   The resident's allocated share of the solar project’s output is 1%.
•   The project generates 50,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) during May, 2019.
•   The resident uses 500 kWh during May, 2019 (which in this example happens to be exactly 1% of the output of the solar project during that month).
•   Con Ed charges 10 cents/kWh during May, 2019.
•   Ordinarily, the resident would pay $50 to purchase electricity that month (500 kWh used X $0.10 per kWh).
•   However, instead of paying ConEd $50, the resident receives from Con Ed a credit for $50, based on the 1% allocation from the solar project’s output for that month (50,000 kWh x 1% = 500 kWh x $0.10 per kWh = $50).
•   The resident receives from the solar company a bill for $45, which is 90% of the amount of the credit on the ConEd bill. The resident saves $5, or 10% of the cost of electricity for that month.

What happens if the resident uses more electricity during the month than their allocation from the solar project? Suppose the resident uses 600 kWh in May, 2019, but the other imaginary elements in the example above stay the same. Here's what happens:

•   The resident still receives a credit from ConEd for $50, representing the resident's 1% share of the 50,000 kWh output of the solar project.
•   The resident's Con Ed bill includes an additional $10 charge for the extra 100 kWh that the resident used that month (100 extra kWh X $0.10 = $10.00).
•   The resident pays the solar company $45 -- 90% of the $50 credit received on
the ConEd bill.
•   In total, the resident pays $55 for electricity that month ($45 to the solar company, and $10 to ConEd). That is still $5 less than the resident would have paid to ConEd if not participating in the solar project (600 kWh used that month X $0.10 = $60).

What about the other way around -- what happens if the resident uses less electricity during the month than their allocated share from the solar project? Suppose the resident uses only 400 kWh in May, 2019, but the other imaginary elements in the example above stay the same. Here's what happens:

•   The resident still receives a credit from ConEd for $50, representing the resident's 1% share of the 50,000 kWh output of the solar project.
•   Since the resident only used $40 worth of electricity (400 kWh X $0.10), the resident "banks" the extra $10 credit.

What happens if the solar project generates less electricity than expected? Suppose the resident uses 500 kWh in May, 2019, but the solar project generates only 40,000 kWh that month? In this example, here's what happens:

•   The resident receives from ConEd a credit of $40.00 (1% of 40,000 kWh, or 400 kWh).
•   The resident pays ConEd $10 for the remaining 100 kWh actually used (that is, the difference between the 400 kWh allocation from the solar project, and the 500 kWh actually used that month).
•   The resident pays the solar company $36 (90% of the $40 credit received from ConEd).
•   The resident's total payment that month is $46 ($36 to the solar company plus $10 to ConEd), which is $4 less than the resident would have paid to ConEd if not participating in the solar project.

What happens if the solar project stops functioning altogether -- for example, if it is completely destroyed in a major storm?

•   The resident receives no credit from ConEd, and simply pays ConEd, at the normal ConEd price, for any electricity used.
•   The resident receives no benefit from the solar project, but does not incur any extra costs or penalties on account of the solar project not generating electricity.

Additional Information:
Allocations are calculated based on a subscriber's historical electricity use and the solar array's expected output (which is based on its size, location, arrangement of panels, angle, surroundings, etc). Whatever the solar array actually produces each month, the resident receives a credit on the Con Ed bill based on the resident's percentage allocation of that production.

The solar array output will vary each month based on the season and the daily weather, so the resident's allocated portion will also vary each month. However, the allocation is designed to generally match the electricity the resident uses over the course of a year. If the allocated portion in a given month exceeds the resident's actual utilization (e.g., in summer when the solar array produces a lot of electricity), then the resident “banks” those credits. If the resident's allocated portion in a given month is less than their actual utilization (e.g., in winter when the solar array produces less), the resident draws from the banked credits.

If the resident's circumstances change so that their typical electricity usage changes (e.g., a child moves out of the house and usage goes down; or a child is born and usage increases), then the allocation can be changed. Allocations are flexible; if energy needs change, the allocation can be changed to keep pace.

As noted above, if the solar project stops producing electricity for any reason there is no penalty -- the resident simply receives no credit on the Con Ed bill. Under such a relatively unlikely circumstance the resident doesn't receive the benefit of the solar project, but the resident would not be in a worse position than if they had never participated in the solar project.

There is no cost to join the solar project, and a participant can leave at any time without penalty (with 90 days notice).

Residents can learn more by calling 212-381-6097 or by visiting info@powermarket.io

Note that Power Market is not the only company working on the Community Solar option, but it is currently involved in more projects than others. Residents who are interested in Community Solar are encouraged to contact other companies as well.

The website of the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA) is also a helpful resource:

https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All%20Programs/Programs/NY%20Sun/Solar%20for%20Your%20Home/Community%20Solar 


Old Business
Walter Mugdan thanked all the volunteers who participated on November 10 in the Second Annual Glenwood Landing Park Cleanup and Daffodil Bulb Planting event, sponsored by the Douglaston Garden Club with support from the New York City Parks Department. Dozens of bags of leaves were collected, and hundreds of daffodil bulbs were planted.

Since our September 2018 meetings two hearings have been held regarding the proposed upzoning of several parcels at and near the intersection of Northern Boulevard and Douglaston Parkway. The upzoning would allow the developer to build 8-story apartment buildings on the parcels in question. In October, Community Board 11 held a hearing attended by some 300 people, almost all opposed to the upzoning; CB-11 voted unanimously to oppose the upzoning. In mid-November a hearing was held by the Borough President; numerous residents from the Douglaston area attended; at this writing the Borough President has not yet issued a recommendation on the matter. Walter Mugdan and Victor Dadras explained that spot upzoning is an inappropriate and precedentially dangerous way in which to effectuate permission for the developer to build something other than a one-family house on these parcels. Walter and Victor suggested that a variance would be the appropriate way for the developer to receive permission to build something suitable for these locations. For the parcel on the corner, that might be permission to build, e.g., a 2- or 3-story commercial building (similar to the buildings on two of the other corners at this intersection). By contrast, he proposed upzoning creates a worrisome precedent for any other parcel on or near Northern Boulevard: if these parcels at Douglaston Parkway can be upzoned, why not any other such parcel? Spot rezoning of this sort undermines the more orderly, principled approach to area zoning. We expect there will be two further hearings on the proposed upzoning -- one before the City Planning Commission and the final, hearing before the City Council (which is the ultimate deciding authority on this matter).

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.


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