Community Corner

Electrical Aggregation to be Placed on Ballot

Referendum question posed to voters on March 20.

From the website:

At the December 6, 2011 Village Council meeting, the Village Council approved a resolution placing a referendum question on the March 20, 2012 General Primary Election ballot regarding the Village's ability to operate a municipal electricity aggregation program for residents and eligible small businesses.

If approved, the Village would have the authorization to seek a competitive bid that lowers the price of electricity for residents and many businesses. Residents would continue to be billed by ComEd, but the supply of electricity would be provided to the electrical grid by one of 23 suppliers approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. 

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The referendum question that will appear on the March 20, 2012 General Primary Election ballot is:

Shall the Village of Downers Grove 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?

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Electricity Aggregation?
Electricity Aggregation is a program that allows local governments to bundle - or aggregate - residential and small commercial retail electric accounts and seek bids for a cheaper source of power. Currently, ComEd customers receive electricity at a price set each year by the Illinois Power Agency, a governmental body that secures electricity on the wholesale market on behalf of ComEd. By bundling residential and small commercial accounts, municipalities can go out into the open market to seek a lower rate for electric power. Since 1999, large industrial and commercial customers have used this option to reduce electricity costs.

Why is municipal aggregation possible?
On August 10, 2009, Governor Pat Quinn signed into law Public Act 096-0176, amending the original Illinois electric deregulation legislation. The new law allows municipalities to transfer their residents' and small business owners' electric accounts to alternative electric suppliers after either passing a referendum or conducting a sign-up program known as an 'opt in' program.

What is deregulation?
On December 16, 1997, the State of Illinois implemented a plan to deregulate ComEd. Under this plan, ComEd no longer generates electricity for its customers but continues to provide power generated by others through its distribution system. Deregulation means that power can be purchased through any of the 23 Illinois Commerce Commission approved power suppliers.

How does the program work?
Under state law, the Village of Downers Grove must place a referendum on the ballot to ask voters to give it the authority to aggregate electric accounts and seek bids for electricity supply. If voters approve the referendum, the Village will hold at least two public hearings to discuss and create an aggregation plan. Once the plan is in place, staff will prepare and publicize a request for proposals. Only energy suppliers certified and regulated by the Illinois Commerce Commission able eligible to respond. There is no obligation to accept any bid that does not lower rates. A resident or small business has no obligation to participate and could choose to opt out of the program altogether.

Am I obligated to participate?
No. Any account holder may opt out of the program and remain on ComEd's supply service rate.

What does "opt out" mean?
All residential and small commercial electricity users will be included in the customer base unless they affirmatively choose not to participate. The opportunity to opt out will be available up to the time of program implementation.

How do I opt out of the program?
Customers will have a chance to opt-out of the aggregation program, but must do so before the new service begins. Customers will receive notice informing them of the opt-out period, who to contact, and how they must communicate their intention to opt-out.

Who will take care of my power if there is an outage?
ComEd, by law, will still be paid to distribute the power to the homes and businesses and handle any emergency repairs.

What is Com Ed's role in this program?
ComEd distributes electricity, but does not generate it. As the electricity distributor, ComEd is responsible for infrastructure, responding to outages and billing. ComEd will continue to bill customers for electric usage regardless of the supplier of that electricity.

If I participate, will I get two bills - one from ComEd for delivering the power and another from a company that provides it?
No. ComEd will remain responsible for billing customers for all electricity, regardless of the electric supplier. The only change would be the name of the electricity provider on the bill's electricity supply.

If aggregation means lower energy costs for customers, won't ComEd simply increase charges on the distribution side to protect its profit margin?
ComEd owns the distribution system only, and so does not realize profits or losses from the sale of energy. ComEd has worked for several years with large commercial and industrial customers who have switched to third-party energy suppliers, and remains supportive of other customers who switch to third-party suppliers. In other words, there will be no impact on distribution rates. Per ICC regulations, ComEd cannot introduce any separate distribution fees on municipalities that aggregate electricity.


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