June 23, 2010 (MMD Newswire) -- Oneida County has discovered the financial and environmental benefits of enrolling in a demand response program with Energy Curtailment Specialists (ECS).
ECS, the leading demand response provider in North America, is proud to announce that Oneida County has made ECS their official demand response provider. Not only is Oneida County committed to helping ECS spread the awareness of the benefits of demand response, the energy they are planning to curtail will have a profound effect on the local environment. By enrolling in ECS' PowerPay!NY program, Oneida County is helping grid operators avoid having to bring inefficient "peaker" plants online during times of grid instability. This also helps to ensure that new power plants will not have to be built in the future.
"Oneida County is committed to a proactive program of managing our energy needs, developing new partnerships to address the broad spectrum of energy consumption and working smarter to help avoid blackouts and power interruptions," said Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. "The demand response program we will be initiating with ECS also makes sound fiscal sense. By responsibly managing our energy resources to reduce our load at times others have peak needs, we can generate revenue that helps support vital programs and services."
"County Government continues to explore creative options that provide increased efficiency and augment the tax base with additional revenue streams,"said Oneida County Comptroller Joseph J. Timpano. "When we learned about this concept, we investigated and did our legwork and found out that it was a win-win for Oneida County both fiscally and in terms of overall energy use. New approaches and new ideas are an integral part of our management system as we face the challenges of these uncertain times."
ECS has been a leader in the demand response industry since its inception in 2001. Since then, ECS has experienced considerable growth and now represents over 10,000 customer facilities nationwide, including hundreds of counties and municipalities. PowerPay! participants are paid for agreeing to voluntarily reduce electric consumption for a short period of time during critical periods of demand. Participants are typically asked to decrease their electricity usage only when the electric grid is strained to help avoid blackouts. Historically, ECS customers are only asked to reduce their consumption for a few hours a year by manually reducing load, or running on-site generators.
"We are extremely pleased to have Oneida Countyas an ECS customer," remarked Jeffrey Bonerb, ECS' Director of Market Operations, "they will now begin to see significant payments without exposing themselves to any risks whatsoever. Clearly, Oneida County is serious about reducing their carbon footprint and increasing grid stability within their community."
About Oneida County. OneidaCountywas officially formed by the New York State Legislature on March 15, 1798. Situated in practically the geographic center of New York State, Oneida County is nearly one hundred miles west of the state capital of Albany and holds the upper reaches of the Mohawk River flowing eastward to the Hudson River. Today, Oneida County, in addition to its agricultural base, is home to retail and wholesale service industries, precision manufacturers, the Air Force Information Directorate (Rome Labs), Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS - the largest Finance and Accounting service in the world), and high tech corporations.
About Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc. Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc. (ECS) offers consultative, administrative, and turnkey demand response services. ECS is one of the largest demand response service providers in North America, with more than 10,000 customers participating in its programs nationwide. ECS is currently serving markets across North America including New York, California, Texas, New England, the PJM territory and Ontario, Canada. For more information please call 877-711-5453 or visit www.ecsgrid.com.
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Corey Rose Akios
Communications Specialist, ECS
877-711-5453 x 333
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