Energy Service Companies

Subscribe to Energy Service Companies via RSS

Communities interested in cleaner energy, as well as greater control over their electric supply and reliability, are increasingly turning to microgrids — miniature power systems that serve an individual facility or area with electricity, either on its own or in concert with a larger power grid. Typically, a microgrid consists of energy generation and energy storage that can power a building or community and can be disconnected from the energy grid.Continue Reading Microgrids: Placing Energy in the Hands of the Consumer

The New York State Public Service Commission (“Commission”) leveraged an unprecedented interpretation of its “just and reasonable” regulatory authority to impose drastic changes to the retail energy marketplace, which will have ripple effects on Renewable Energy Credit (REC) markets, retail energy contracts, Distributed Energy Resource (DER) providers and other clean technology stakeholders. The Commission’s Order…

Public Service Commission Resets Retail Energy Marketplace:
All ESCOs Required to Re-Register Under New Rules and Completely Revise Product Offerings

On December 12, 2019, the New York State Public Service Commission (“Commission”) voted to reset the retail energy marketplace by requiring all Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to re-register for eligibility to serve customers. While the final order remains to be issued, the Department of Public Service (DPS) explained that as part of the re-registration process, it will subject each ESCO to new eligibility requirements and require all ESCOs to modify their product offerings to fit one of four categories.
Continue Reading Reset 2.0?

On April 1, 2019, the State Legislature approved a $175.5 billion budget for 2019-2020, which, among other things, eliminates an important sales tax exemption that allowed certain commercial customers of Energy Service Companies (“ESCOs”) to receive electric and gas supply without paying sales tax on transmission and distribution charges.

Since 2000, shortly after New York restructured its energy markets, the NYS Tax Law has included an exemption for commercial ESCO customers that was designed to incentivize consumer choice and enhance the ability of ESCOs to offer competitive prices (“Exemption”). Under the Exemption, commercial customers that received service from an ESCO would pay sales tax on the commodity portion of their bills, but not the delivery service. In contrast, default utility customers paid sales tax on both the commodity and delivery provided by the utility.
Continue Reading New York Repeals ESCO Sales Tax Exemption for Businesses