Lockport, N.Y. (WBEN) - The push continues from New York State to pursue alternative solutions for fossil fuel-based energy usage in the coming years.
According to Gov. Kathy Hochul's $227 billion state budget proposal, by Dec. 31, 2025, all new construction - single family and multi-living complexes under three stories - can no longer have gas, gas heating or water heating appliances to it. In addition, commercial buildings will prohibit the installation of fossil-fuel equipment and building systems by Dec. 31, 2028.
While many local and statewide residents would have ample time to prepare for the changes if the proposal is approved and implemented, some have already gotten ahead of the state's initiative, going towards alternative ways of heating and cooling their facilities.
Related
This includes Arrowhead Spring Vineyards in Lockport, where co-owners Duncan and Robin Ross installed a geothermal heating and cooling system for their complex on Town Line Road. According to Duncan, the install of the geothermal system went very well when the structure was constructed in 2017 and into 2018.
"We actually prototyped it in the first winery building [starting in 2012], which was quite a bit smaller, and saw the efficiencies," said Ross on Wednesday. "We made a couple of adjustments when we built the larger facility, insulated it a little bit better, built more into the hillside where we could. And even though the geothermal was more expensive, the end point was that we've gotten electricity use at about $3,000 a year for the first year we were in the facility, which was pretty good considering that [heating and cooling were all included]."
While it may have been beneficial for Ross to start, the current way electricity utilities happen to bill commercial customers has seen his monthly energy costs skyrocket. It was a significant step back for Ross, especially in the winter months when trying to heat up the winery.
"There's demand charges and, unfortunately, the way the electricity works with the geothermal is that most of the load is in the wintertime when it's cold, because you're bringing the temperature up from 10, 15 or 20 degrees outside up to 70. That's quite a temperature differential," Ross said. "In the summertime, it's not too big of a differential in Western New York. It might be 90 degrees outside and you're bringing it down to 70, it's only 20 degrees. So we tended to peak higher in the winter, and got our demand letters early and cut back on power use."
Ross says they were able to cut part of the price down the first year they were open by shutting it off from the rest of the facility, and then the following year they put solar panels on the roof to offset that use.
Where Arrowhead Spring Vineyard is located, it is a more rural area of Lockport, which often means the only choice to heat up the facility would be propane. Ross estimates the geothermal system was probably $3,000 a year for electricity, which was a lot less expensive than propane. However, when demand charges are added into the equation, it multiplied their bill by a factor of four or five.
Ross says their first meter bill was 25% for the electricity and 75% for the demand charges alone. In addition, the solar credits that were used to offset the use of the geothermal system in the winter were also used for demand charges at a reduced value.
In another attempt to cut down his energy bills this winter, Ross is utilizing wood-burning stoves at his winery to keep the facility warm.
Prior to the addition of the solar offsets, Ross estimates summertime use for power was in the $150 per-month range, while wintertime could be in the $500-600 range. Spring and fall were priced lower, and they often just opened windows during good weather.
Ross feels the rates were pretty reasonable on their own, but only become a burden for the business when demand charges multiply the costs. It's also frustrating for Ross as farm and residential service is not subject to demand.
"I've written a letter to the Governor, a policy-related letter, noting that there's a gap here," Ross said, also noting he has not heard back from her office yet. "For a small business, if it's going to be totally electric and heated with electricity in the wintertime, the 2,000 kilowatt hour limit seems to be low compared to the reality on the ground. I think a lot of the tariffs for power were written assuming that people were heating with a different technology - oil, propane, gas. Now that that's directionally changed with the state, those are the kinds of things that need to be looked at and adjusted to account for using electricity as your only heat source."
As far as where things go from here in the fight to alter the system, Ross believes the tariff needs adjustment so the limit for a smaller business would be higher.
"A 2,000 kilowatt hour limit is probably too small. It should probably be sitting around 4,000 or so," he said. "Having, perhaps, some special cases for doing that transition from other fuel sources - particularly things like fuel oil or propane - would be helpful, I think for small businesses to make that transition. In the meantime, until any of that happens, businesses like ours will continue to augment with things like wood heat. We've got some wood stoves that we can augment with, and that's worked out fairly well. I know other businesses will run backup generators to generate electricity to stay under the limit."
As for the rules for demand metering, if you're over the 2,000 kilowatt hours for four months in-a-row consecutively, a business will get put on demand metering.
"In the wintertime, the four months is tough, because we get four cold months. But if you can augment on the shoulder months - November, December and March a little bit - you can stay under the 2,000 [limit]," Ross said.
While this matter is still being addressed and will hopefully be ratified in a short timeframe, some businesses and others may look to make the switch from resources like natural gas or propane to a more suitable form of energy to fit the state's proposed plan. Ross has some advice for anyone looking to take those measures, as he did several years ago.
"Go in with your eyes open, and do a very thorough analysis on what the electricity charges will be," he said. "Estimate what it's going to cost to heat the building in the wintertime. It will probably be the highest cost for most businesses that are not running a lot of machinery that runs on electricity. And try to offset that use at the time when you're doing it. What does that mean? If your highest use is in the summer, solar is a good offset, at least during the day. And if your highest use is in the wintertime or at night, smaller wind turbines are available if businesses have the space to put them up. Those run more in the wintertime, and they run 24 hours a day as opposed to solar."