In early 1999, our Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce introduced the Rensselaer Gateway Energy Alliance, a new and innovative Chamber Member Benefit cost-saving program to help Chamber members save on their energy costs through the combined buying power of Chamber member businesses and institutional consumers. The electric energy marketplace began a dramatic change in New York in 1999.
Competition is the guiding principle.
The Rensselaer Gateway Energy Alliance is the first such energy bulk purchasing alliance established as a Chamber Member Benefit program in New York State. As a Chamber Member Benefit Program, it is open to all Chamber members. In early 1998, the Chamber and its Rensselaer Gateway Development Corporation economic development affiliate began exploring the concept of an energy bulk purchasing alliance in response to the anticipated deregulation of the electric energy marketplace in New York State. Creating the Rensselaer Gateway Energy Alliance as a Chamber Member Benefit energy bulk purchasing program open to benefit directly all Chamber members, was a logical outgrowth of that year-long undertaking. Approximately two dozen Chamber member businesses opted into the program in its first enrollment round put into place in late 1999.