Residential aggregation Program
Nineteen communities in Illinois are now buying their electric power from suppliers other than ComEd. The average resident is saving $150 to $175/year. ComEd continues to bill each resident, and continues to repair any outages. The Village will be placing a referendum on the upcoming March 2012 ballot to determine if residents would like the Village to pursue similar savings.
If approved, the referendum would allow the Village to solicit bids on behalf of residents and small business to buy electric power on the open (de-regulated) energy market. The goal is to secure lower electric supply rates for residents and small businesses in our community.
Since the State of Illinois deregulated electric power providers, 75 percent of commercial volume has switched to buy power from suppliers other than ComEd. Conversely, few residents have moved to lower-cost energy suppliers. As a result, the State of Illinois created legislation allowing communities to leverage residential accounts by engaging in a process of “Municipal Aggregation,” thus enabling municipalities to solicit competitive bids from suppliers on behalf of the entire community. This is similar to the way a Village sets rates for garbage collection or cable suppliers.
To engage in the Municipal Aggregation process, residents must vote YES on a referendum on the March 2012 ballot.
The Municipal Aggregation process should provide us with a “win-win” scenario. Even if the resolution passes, the Village is under no obligation to switch suppliers. The resolution simply gives the Village the right to solicit competitive bids. The Village can determine whether bid terms and pricing are compelling enough to move residents’ accounts en masse to a new, lower cost supplier. If not, all residents will remain with ComEd for the next 12 months.
ComEd service will not change: ComEd would continue to manage and maintain the network (of stations and wiring) that delivers your electric power. Residents will continue to call ComEd in the event of a power outage. Residents will still be customers of ComEd’s delivery system and receive bills from ComEd with the only difference being the name on the line item for power supplier.
Should the municipality choose a new energy supplier, the supplier will contact each electric account to offer them the opportunity to “opt out” of the new plan. The resident can return a short form provided by the energy supplier, stating their desire to “opt out” and continue to purchase power from ComEd.
Residential electric rates are set once annually by ComEd. ComEd earns no income from the sale of electric power; they simply distribute it. As such, they are “indifferent” from what supplier a community chooses to buy its power.
The Village will be placing a Referendum on the March 2012 ballot. If the majority of voters concur, then the Village can seek lower electric rates for its residents. A sample of Referendum to appear on March 2012 ballot.
Should the Village of Olympia Fields have the authority to arrange for the supply of electricity for its residential and small commercial retail customers who have not opted out of such program? YES
NO