Westchester Power Customers Fed Misinformation, Denied Opt-Out Rights in Ethics and Regulatory Collapse

Robert Cox

Robert Cox

— 11 min read
Westchester Power Customers Fed Misinformation, Denied Opt-Out Rights in Ethics and Regulatory Collapse
Noam Bramson presided over the failure of a New York-based “green electricity” non-profit in less than 2 years.

DUBLIN, IRELAND (November 7, 2025) — Sustainable Westchester has announced it will end its Westchester Power community energy program on Nov. 30, returning tens of thousands of customers across 26 municipalities to default Con Edison or NYSEG service.

The nonprofit cited new state regulations that made continuing the program unfeasible.

There were “new” regulations adopted by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in 2023 but it was systemic failures of Sustainable Westchester, under Executive Director Noam Bramson, which resulted in “universal deficiencies” that resulted in the program’s impending shutdown.

Prior operational failures have caused three documented harms to ratepayers. First, inaccurate and unverifiable information—cited in DPS rejection letters from August to October 2025 for wrong pricing in ads, missing website data, and misleading public statements, including a July 8 Rye Brook session claiming no renewable premium—blocked informed decisions. Second, no valid 30-day opt-out period existed for 2025 renewals after DPS rejected letters for at least 29 municipalities due to template deviations, conflicting product descriptions, and incorrect pricing, denying customers an exit option. Third, starting December 2025, customers face utility default service with variable rates and lower renewable content (30–40% for Con Edison, 50% for NYSEG) versus the program’s 100% renewable fixed-rate supply, risking cost spikes and reduced clean energy.

Enabling legislation in New Rochelle, Rye, White Plains, Bedford, North Salem and the Town of Mamaroneck may have been null, void and unenforceable due to illegal votes by council members holding Sustainable Westchester board positions, violating General Municipal Law Section 18. The New Rochelle Board of Ethics ruling on Dec. 1, 2023, and outside counsel opinion on Dec. 31, 2023, effectively confirmed all related agreements were invalid from inception.

Sustainable Westchester has collected large sums in administrative fees on supply delivered under these problematic contracts.

The program, launched in 2016, aggregated municipal electricity demand to secure competitive renewable supply contracts.

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The shutdown follows a series of rejections by the New York State Department of Public Service of municipality filings for program renewals.

In letters dated August through October 2025, DPS rejected filings for at least 29 municipalities, citing deficiencies including low-resolution images, incorrect pricing data, missing recordings of outreach sessions, deviations from required opt-out letter templates and incomplete program websites.

One rejection on Oct. 15, 2025, prohibited joint outreach meetings between the Town and Village of Ossining.

The Village of Rye Brook received two rejections, on Aug. 15 and Oct. 15, 2025.

Sustainable Westchester also missed a Sept. 28, 2025, deadline to file a quarterly report. A request for an extension filed Sept. 29 was denied by PSC Secretary Michelle L. Phillips on Oct. 6, 2025, with a new deadline of Oct. 14.

The rejections stemmed from systemic non-compliance with CCA Program Rules outlined in a January 19, 2023, PSC order, including Rules 33, 34, 39 and 41, which require verifiable documentation for outreach and education efforts, accurate pricing comparisons, full recording of public sessions and exact use of DPS-approved templates for opt-out letters.

For the Villages of Croton-on-Hudson and Tarrytown, an Oct. 15, 2025, DPS letter identified 29 specific deficiencies, such as hyperlinks pointing to a 650-page master PDF instead of municipality-specific records, unverifiable low-resolution images in flyers and ads, incorrect 12-month trailing average pricing in Journal News ads, missing recording links for in-person and virtual sessions, non-compliant program website data including wrong Con Edison Zone H averages and incomplete municipality lists, and opt-out letters that deviated from the DPS template with conflicting default product statements.

In the City of Peekskill, City of White Plains and Town of Greenburgh, an Oct. 17, 2025, rejection listed 38 issues, including missing default product identification, low-resolution images for flyers and tabling events, wrong trailing averages, no links to social media posts or ads, missing recordings for multiple sessions, misleading statements in White Plains virtual sessions such as failing to disclose that 100% renewable rates had not beaten utility rates since 2022 and referencing prohibited comparisons to the Power to Choose website, and program-wide website violations like incorrect current contract rates and missing May 2025 fixed rate details.

An Oct. 22, 2025, letter rejected filings for 16 municipalities, including New Rochelle, Rye and Yonkers, due to universal deficiencies such as unreviewable supporting documentation on the website, incorrect or outdated information and non-compliant opt-out letters, mirroring the patterns in prior rejections.

For the Village of Sleepy Hollow, Village of Ossining and Town of Ossining, the Oct. 15 rejection highlighted 22 problems, including prohibited joint outreach meetings at shared facilities, low-resolution images, misclassified supplemental materials, missing recordings for three sessions and hyperlinks to master PDFs.

The earliest rejection, for Rye Brook on Aug. 15, 2025, cited 10 issues like failure to meet the 30-day post-award outreach period with no verifiable Day 1 event, insufficient in-municipality flyer postings, missing supplemental materials, a misleading statement in a virtual session that there may not always be a premium for renewable energy and website flaws including no opt-out details or accessible price comparisons.

The program's collapse coincides with ethical violations dating to 2016.

In New Rochelle, the Board of Ethics ruled on Dec. 1, 2023, that former Mayor Noam Bramson and Council Member Sara Kaye voted on Sustainable Westchester legislation while serving on its board, violating General Municipal Law Section 18. All related agreements were deemed null, void and unenforceable.

Outside counsel concurred in a Dec. 31, 2023, opinion.

In Rye, Council Member Sara Goddard made presentations and voted aye on 2018 enabling legislation while co-chair of Sustainable Westchester’s board.

Similar defects were identified in White Plains, Bedford, North Salem and the Town of Mamaroneck.

Journalist Robert Cox raised the issues with DPS staffer James Denn in emails starting May 1, 2024.

Denn responded May 2, 2024, that Sustainable Westchester did not inform DPS of problems with its prior New Rochelle contract and that staff would review records for possible enforcement actions and examine Rye’s contracts.

Follow-up emails from Cox in September and December 2024 and April 2025 received responses that the review was ongoing.

On April 15, 2025, Kaye acknowledged her Sustainable Westchester board position but illegally voted to renew the program anyway, according to video of the New Rochelle City Council meeting.

Sustainable Westchester Executive Director Noam Bramson has been the subject of an 18-month criminal investigation led by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office as part of a broader probe into corruption at New Rochelle City Hall. The multi-agency inquiry includes Bramson’s undisclosed $18,000 contract with Sustainable Westchester in the final months of his term as mayor. On Dec. 5, 2023, Bramson aggressively obstructed a New Rochelle City Council executive session called to discuss terminating all contracts with Sustainable Westchester and Westchester Power due to ethics violations by Bramson and council member Sara Kaye, both board directors of Sustainable Westchester while voting on legislation benefiting the organization.

Bramson was hired as executive director effective January 2024 following a search process finalized on in 2023, but reporting indicated he was significantly under-qualified for the position based on key criteria set by the board's Executive Director Search Committee.

As mayor of New Rochelle for 18 years, Bramson served in a ceremonial role presiding over City Council meetings with no executive authority, as the city manager handled day-to-day operations, leaving him without experience running an organization.

This lack of operational background should not come as a surprise in the context of the organization's mismanagement under his leadership, including the repeated filing failures that contributed to the program's demise.

Sustainable Westchester filed formal notice with the PSC on Nov. 6, 2025, that 26 municipalities would exit the program, stating there is no plan to seek new supply contracts.

The exiting municipalities are: Village of Ardsley, Town of Bedford, Village of Croton-on-Hudson, Village of Dobbs Ferry, Town of Greenburgh, Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, Village of Irvington, Village of Larchmont, Town of Mamaroneck, City of New Rochelle, Town of New Castle, Town of North Salem, Town of Ossining, Village of Ossining, City of Peekskill, Village of Pelham, Village of Pleasantville, Town of Pound Ridge, Village of Rye Brook, City of Rye, Village of Sleepy Hollow, Village of Tarrytown, Village of Tuckahoe, City of White Plains and City of Yonkers.

Robert Cox has done extensive report on the many issues with Sustainable Westchester and its Westchester Power operation.

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This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.

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