Frequently Asked Questions

Who Participates?

MEGA currently has over a thousand individual participants in the program including counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and other special districts, and not-for-profit organizations as well as many business members and individual households. No one is excluded from participating in the program. MEGA serves everyone who chooses to participate. By choosing to enroll with MEGA, participants have saved more than $4.0 million since the program's inception in 1998; over $3.7 million in electricity alone between April '05 and April '07. MEGA's natural gas procurement program and Renewable Energy Credits program are modeled on the same procedures and processes that have made the electric supply program a success.  See a sampling of participating counties/cities/towns and villages

How Does the Program Work?

MEGA does NOT buy and sell electricity or natural gas. It is an AGGREGATOR which goes to the open market to seek prices that are lower than individual customers could achieve by purchasing these commodities on their own. MEGA pools potential customers and bids out this power load to private energy service companies (ESCOs), all in compliance with public bidding requirements. MEGA then selects the lowest responsible bidder and signs a master contract - the Program Agreement - with the winning ESCO who agrees to supply electricity and/or natural gas at the accepted bid price. That price is then offered to our participants.

What is the Cost to Participate?

There is no cost to join MEGA and participate in the savings. MEGA members pay only for the energy they use.

How Much Will I Save?

Once the Participation Form is received, it is sent to our current electricity or natural gas supplier (ESCO) who will send you an offer describing the pricing available and benefits to you, plus a contract to sign. When you receive the offer, you can contact our consultants, EnergyNext 518-580-9244 or www.EnergyNext.com to clarify anything you do not understand about the offer.

There will also be savings on New York State sales taxes for businesses and individuals that pay sales tax on their energy use, a saving not available to customers who stay with the utility company.

Public Bidding Requirements

An important feature of our program, which is vital to municipalities, is that we conform to the State's bidding requirements for purchasing goods and services. We offer municipalities and school districts a blanket bid, which they can sign-on to without spending the time and money needed to advertise and process individual bids.

Additional Benefits

MEGA also offers an alternative energy option for the purchase of renewable energy sources including national and New York State wind power, biomass and low impact hydropower. This option - the Renewable Energy Credits program - is available to all our participants. Information provided upon request.

MEGA also offers limited technical assistance to municipalities on energy-related issues.