Village Has Many Options to Consider for Electrical Aggregation in La Grange Park

About 15 La Grange Park residents attended on the issue of electrical aggregation in La Grange Park on Tuesday night at Village Hall.

Trustees in La Grange Park will have to weigh a number of options before going out to bid for a electricity rate for residents of the village including:

• The length of the contract between the village and electrical company.
• Whether to direct the company to purchase credits to provide energy from renewable sources and at what level.
• Whether a cancellation fee will be included for residents who wish to opt-out of the program after it goes into effect.
• Whether the village would impose a civic contribution to the rate, which would add an additional amount to the rate and also provide revenue to the village.

Depending on the choices trustees make, alternate energy suppliers will solicit the village with bids for a new rate on electricity for residents and businesses.

Sharon Durling, a representative of the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Cooperative (NIMEC), was on hand to answer questions from residents and trustees on how aggregation would work moving forward. NIMEC works as a matchmaker between municipalities and electrical companies to help local governments bid for rates and make the switch.

Durling told residents and trustees that 12-15 communities have already gone out to bid with NIMEC this year, with over 60 still preparing to bid. 244 other communities in Illinois .

Village Manager Julia Cedillo asked Durling to lay out what trends NIMEC was seeing in bids from other suburban municipalities. Durling responded that one, two and three-year contacts were all common, but two-year contracts were the most common. Whereas last year, Durling said many municipalities had added a civic contribution to bid requests, this year most were opting to pass the full savings on to residents. This year as well, many villages were including a $25 cancelation fee in their bids for residents to opt out after the rates go into effect. The cancellation fee can get a village a lower rate, and the cost is still minimal to opt-out, Durling explained.

Cedillo said her main concern initially was what would happen if ComEd's rates dropped below the village's bided rate before the contract was up and had residents locked in. Durling said many villages were including a requirement that the ComEd competitor match ComEd's (but only ComEd, not other competitors) rates if they dropped below the village's quote.

Residents Ask Questions About Rates and Supply

Residents in attendance at Tuesday night's meeting were mostly concerned with the issue of rates and the cost of opting out of the plan. Susan Jefferys asked if electrical aggregation seemed to be win-win, . Durling said it was her opinion that those voters didn't know the details and did not have enough information. She said there was often concern when residents considered whether to allow a village to bid for services like electricity on their behalf.

Another resident, James Smith, asked what would happen if he sold his home: would the new owner be locked into the contract? Durling said no. The new resident would not be included in that contract, but could sign up to enjoy the discounted rates at any time.

Other residents were also skeptical of the program. Resident Fred Weiss said he had a "natural distrust of such operations," and seemed to believe the other shoe would drop. But for each resident’s question, Durling had an answer that seemed to satisfy him or her. Durling said residents would not have to worry any more than normal about power outages. Even if the village's supplier could no longer provide power to La Grange Park for some reason, ComEd was legally required to do so as Illinois provider of last resort without any service interruption.

Timeline for Aggregation

Village Manager Cedillo laid out the village’s timeline to residents, which included the Village Board hoping to go out to bid in June with the switch taking place in late summer or early fall. Residents would be automatically enrolled in the program, but could choose to opt-out of the program at no cost before it began. Cedillo told residents that the village would send information out to residents on how to opt-out and other information over the summer.

Depending on the options that the village chooses, rates will be solicited between companies who would deliver the electricity to the village. Residents would continue to receive their bills from ComEd, but would likely see a savings of 20-30 percent off their bills, .

According to Cedillo, the village is already enjoying the benefits of electrical aggregation and has been using an alternate electricity supplier since 2005 for power to the village's pumping station. Trustees will need to consider the various options before going out to bid, so that residents of La Grange Park can enjoy those benefits too.

Have another question that wasn't asked by a resident Tuesday night? A second public hearing will be held next Monday, May 14 at 6 p.m. in the conference room at Village Hall, 447 N. Catherine Ave. in La Grange Park.