Politics & Government

Trustees Approve Electric Aggregation Plan

Later this month, village leaders will send out for bids for lower electric rates for residents and small businesses.

Come September, residents will hopefully see a significant reduction in their electric bills.

Trustees on Monday unanimously approved a plan to seek out lower electric rates for village residents and small businesses. (Trustee Bill Keck was absent; the other five voted yes.) It’s called electric aggregation, and it’s been made possible by a state law that took effect in January of last year.

Montgomery voters in Kane and Kendall counties approved a referendum in March giving the Village Board authority to solicit bids for lower electric rates than those currently offered by ComEd. Village leaders were required by law to hold two public hearings on the issue before moving forward.

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The first one, held last week, saw only one resident with questions. The second, on Monday night, saw none.

So now the village will work with the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative to find the cheapest electric rate available. Every resident in the village, and every small business in the 0-100kW range will be included in the bid, unless they have a contract with a company other than ComEd for electric service.

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ComEd will continue to deliver electricity, and send out bills. The only change you should see will be a reduction in the supply portion of your bill, which makes up about 70 percent of your overall electric charges each month. Sharon Durling of NIMEC said the supply portion could drop by as much as 40 or 50 percent.

ComEd’s current rate is 7.73 cents per kilowatt/hour. NIMEC has taken 14 local communities to bid, seeing good results. Most recently, the village of Darien, working with NIMEC, with Pittsburgh-based Direct Energy, for a rate of 4.54 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The village will go out to bid on or around May 23. Because of the volatility of the electric market, the Village Board gave Acting Village Administrator Jeff Zoephel the ability to sign a contract with the lowest bidder. Director Mike Pubentz said the request for bids would go out around noon, and a contract would need to be inked by about 10 a.m. the next morning to lock in a rate.

Residents and business owners will be allowed to opt out at no charge during a predetermined period, likely in June, Pubentz said. The opt-out period will last at least 14 days, and residents and business owners will receive a letter in the mail with an opt-out form.

In August, the village should begin receiving electricity from its new supplier, whomever that turns out to be, and the newly-reduced bills should begin arriving in September, Pubentz said.

For more on electric aggregation, read .


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