City Seeks Taxpayer Permission to Find Lower Electric Rates

While many referendums ask for more money, next week Darien is asking taxpayers for permission to seek out more affordable electricity rates to help residents and small businesses keep cash in their pocketbooks.

The question on the April 5 ballot will ask voters for “authority to arrange for the supply of electricity for its residential and small commercial retail customers who have not opted out of such a program.”

Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said he sees no downside to voting in favor of the referendum.

“If we receive higher bids we can default back to the ComEd rate and we wouldn’t be any worse for it,” he said. “But we are expecting to save money. I don’t see any reason not to try and take a chance to save money.”

In August 2009, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a public act that gave municipalities the ability to bid on electric power rates on behalf of their citizens. The goal is for cities to be able to negotiate a lower price. The act went into effect Jan. 1.

City officials said Darien could get a bulk discount because it would aggregate all the individual Darien customers into one negotiating body. No matter where the city secured the lowest rate, customers would still receive a ComEd bill. The only thing that would change is where ComEd buys the power it then distributes.

The referendum was suggested by the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Cooperative, which negotiates power rates for more than 100 municipalities in northern Illinois and to which Darien belongs.

If the referendum passes, city residents would still be able to opt out of the program if they want to continue with the same power supplier.

David Hoover, executive director of NIMEC, said an approved referendum does not obligate a municipality to switch suppliers.

“(The municipality) would only make a change if the rate is lower,” he said. “The municipalities are doing this out of the goodness out of their hearts to try and help residents find a lower electric rate.”

Hoover said NIMEC has seen little opposition to electricity aggregation.

“It’s really a no-brainer,” he said. “But there are people who say, ‘No, I want to do it my way. I don’t want a municipality to do it for me.’ And they have the opportunity to opt out.”

Hoover hopes to see Darien taxpayers approve the referendum.

“It’s a great program,” he said.

For more information about the program, visit http://www.darien.il.us/Government/City%20Hall/CommunityChoiceAggregation.html.