Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - With energy costs continuing to skyrocket in New York State, NOCO partnered with the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, Clarence Chamber of Commerce and Ken-Ton Chamber of Commerce to offer an energy forum for local businesses on Wednesday in the Town of Amherst.
Attendees were able to gain insight into how the future of energy in New York will look, including emerging technologies and clean energy solutions, while also learning more about the state’s climate plans, as well as the impacts of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act in Washington.
Wednesday's energy forum was also the chance for businesses to learn how they can access incentives and rebates through the New York State Energy Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) and other state funded programs.
"Today's event really is to let the businesses know where they feel like they have no control, remind them where they do have control," said Michael Casciano, president and COO of NOCO. "As we know, energy costs are rising and there's no end in sight. So that makes you feel a little bit bad, you feel like, 'What am I going to do about it?' What I want to do is give those tips, that advice to say what you can do about it, but the time is right now. Now is the time to start doing it, not only because you can start saving on your consumption, but there's incredible amounts of incentives and tax breaks that expire at the end of this year. So today is about taking advantage of those, while you plan for a longer term energy cost reduction."
Casciano says one forecast indicates that electricity costs will go up 20% in the next three or four years, which has led several businesses to ask NOCO when the rise of energy costs may stop. At the moment, though, Casciano has no reason to believe it will.
"That's a really bad feeling. You feel awful about that," Casciano said with WBEN. "So I try to shift and say, 'Well, there are things you can do if the cost of electricity and the unknowns is making you anxious, and it's unsustainable as your business.' Think about those things that take you away from that dependency, whether it's solar or geothermal, or maybe have an energy advisor work through fixed rate versus variable rate pricing so you can take advantage of those opportunities and lower your costs, and lower your consumption."
Moderating Wednesday's forum was A.J. Baynes, president and CEO of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce. He felt this forum was a great chance to help educate businesses on all the changes in energy policies at the federal level and at the state level.
"We felt that NOCO was a tremendous partner for us to really help guide these businesses and understanding what credits and rebates might expire at the end of the year, and what credits and rebates they're going to be able to take advantage of," Baynes said with WBEN.
Baynes often gets asked by businesses about the costs if they want to go down an alternative route to try and light offices, homes, and businesses?
"There's a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace, and with these business owners, they want to plan," Baynes said. "Most good business owners are planning for the future, whether it's bringing on new employees, and they want to fully understand what their costs are going to be with some of these policies going forward."
Another questions many businesses have is whether or not the electric grid in New York State can handle the all-electric push set to start at the beginning of 2026. It's something that even Casciano questions, and doesn't believe the state is quite ready yet to handle it.
"If you think about why I don't think we're ready, there's been a significant push to retire the fossil fuel energy plants. So 50% of all of energy is created from fossil fuels, and we've eliminated about 5,200 megawatts worth of energy that was created from fossil fuel plants since 2019. So you've taken the supply down, and you've only replaced it with half, whether that's wind and solar," Casciano noted. "We're not ready, as a state for nuclear to kind of take the next level. That was announced, I think it's 2040 when they think that plant will go live in Western New York, which is great. But at this moment, we've taken the supply down, the demand, like in January with the All-Electrics Building Act, is higher. So when you have supply going down and demand going up, prices go up."
Baynes feels the last thing businesses and residents want is to have rolling blackouts and to lose power because the grid cannot handle it, especially during a winter storm.
"It's not a warm area in January or February, so if homes are losing power, businesses are losing power, they're losing heat, they're losing their ability to stay warm. It could be catastrophic," Baynes said. "So what we really need is reliability from the grid, and we want to make sure that's there, especially as we continue to add more things to it and more demand on that grid."
While businesses got the chance to ask questions of rising energy costs at Wednesday's forum, NOCO recommends that local residents should also look into how they can control their energy consumption.
"Think about where you can reduce your consumption, and that's really through some simple things like high efficiency furnaces," he said. "You may not think you can actually make a significant impact, but if you replace a 15-year-old furnace with a high efficiency furnace, you're going to reduce your energy consumption by about 15%, and that translates to real money."
Meanwhile, other businesses who couldn't make the energy forum on Wednesday are more than welcome to reach out to Baynes and other leaders among the local chambers of commerce.
"The Amherst Chamber of Commerce is a great resource, www.amherst.org, to find more information. Call our offices. Even if you're not a member, we'll welcome your questions and help walk you through it," Baynes said. "If you're not in the Town of Amherst, that's fine. Like I mentioned earlier, we span 75 zip codes of membership. It's really, truly indicative of the regional representation that we have."