County to Host MEGA Info Talk

April 25th, 2011

CANTON - St. Lawrence County will host an information meeting at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the courthouse's legislative chambers for schools and larger nonprofit agencies to hear what the Municipal Electric and Gas Alliance offers them.

MEGA is an aggregator of electricity and natural gas whose goal is to achieve the most competitive prices for its members. The nonprofit local development corporation also promotes energy conservation and development of alternative energy resources.

The county joined MEGA in 2009 and realized about $12,000 in savings last year, Governmental Services Director Michael J. Cunningham said.

"We're required to competitively bid for electricity because it's not a monopoly. Electricity is always difficult to bid out individually," Mr. Cunningham said. "MEGA, they aggregate all the power needs of the municipalities that are their members. Those are pretty big advantages. National Grid actually encourages you to do it because they're no longer in the power-producing business."
ADVERTISEMENT

Savings of even fractions of cents add up.

"When you put that into all the megawatts we use, that makes a big difference," Mr. Cunningham said. "If you're subject to sales tax, there are savings."

MEGA pools customers and bids out the power load to private energy service companies in accordance with public bidding requirements. MEGA then selects the lowest responsible bidder and signs a master contract with the supplier. The New York State Association of Counties endorsed MEGA in 2008 as the preferred energy procurement program for its members and affiliates.

A NYSAC representative will be at the meeting, as will a representative of EnergyNext, MEGA's consultant. To get the word out, the county sent more than 100 invitations for the meeting to towns, villages, the city of Ogdensburg, schools, colleges and some nonprofits. At least 30 representatives have signed up so far, Mr. Cunningham said.

Other meetings might be arranged in the future.

"From what I know about it, it could be a wonderful thing for our members," county Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Patricia L. McKeown said. "I'm looking forward to the meeting to learn more about it."

MEGA, which started in Tompkins County, has more than 1,000 members, including individuals.