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19 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.
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Should the Village 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 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How can the Village
purchase electric power at a lower
cost?
A. The State of Illinois has
deregulated energy markets, allowing
competing companies to offer
electric power. Municipalities can
leverage residents’ electric
accounts to seek competitive bids
for lower electric rates.
Q: Who do I contact if there
is a power outage or downed lines?
A. Call ComEd. By State Law, ComEd
will continue to be paid to deliver
electric power to homes and
businesses and handle all emergency
repairs.
Q: Why is this opportunity
available?
A. This is the last part of the
deregulation process. Until this Act
was amended, only large industrial,
commercial and governmental entities
could seek competitive bids for
lower rates, and three-quarters of
them do. Now residents can, too.
Q: What if I don’t want to
participate in the program?
A. Residents will have multiple
opportunities to “Opt Out” of the
program, which will be your right by
law. You can continue to buy power
through ComEd, although the rate
will most likely be higher.
Q: What happens if the Village
cannot obtain bids for better rates
than ComEd offers?
A. Your account would stay with
ComEd, who would continue to be your
power provider and the local
distribution company. Either way,
ComEd will remain your distributor.
By voting YES on the referendum,
ComEd will compete with power
suppliers from throughout the
Midwest to provide our power.
Q: Why is the Village doing
this?
A. The Village wants to help you buy
your power at lower rates. As a
governmental organization, we want
to take advantage of the new law
that was enacted to benefit our
residents and small businesses. If a
savings of $125 to $175/year can be
achieved, you could use those monies
for other purchases.
Q: What if I don’t want a
governmental entity to choose my
electric power?
A: A government agency (The Illinois
Power Agency) has been setting the
Energy rate for ComEd for several
years already. Now, with
deregulation you have more options
and the choice to “Opt Out:” |
