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 Among those was the subject of Electric Aggregation.
In 2012-13, the city of Lincoln, all of the other municipal units in
the county, and the county board opted to implement an electric
aggregation program for Logan County residents. With guidance from
Farnworth Group, Mark Pruitt of Illinois Community Choice
Aggregation Network was selected to represent the county and cities
in finding a competitive electric rate for residents. The provider
selected was Integrys and the rate secured was $0.3965/kWh for two
years. In 2014, Pruitt was contracted once again to seek out the
best electric rate. This time, he came back to the governing bodies
and suggested that they roll back to Ameren as their electric
provider because that company had the best rates. That advice was
taken, and the aggregation program was temporarily suspended.
Last week, Lincoln City Administrator Clay Johnson spoke on this
topic. He explained that the city has it on good authority that
Ameren rates will be increasing this year, so he believes it would
be good to look into doing an electric aggregation program for the
city and county this year.
 Johnson said, however, that he would recommend that there be a
six-month contract starting in January and expiring in June, and
then a possible new contract starting in June of 2016 and lasting
for one to two years.
Mourning asked how much constituents had saved in the last
aggregation program. County Board member Andy Anderson said as he
recalled it was about $120 per year per household. He also noted
that there were differences in the rates charged by Ameren at
certain households. Because of this switching to Integrys was not
the best option for some Logan County residents.
With the “opt out” option, Logan County constituents had the option
of switching providers or staying with Ameren, according to which
program was the least expensive.
Anderson asked Johnson why he was recommending only a six-month
contract to start. Johnson said there is state legislation that is
probably going to pass that will have an effect on how electric
aggregation works. A short term contract will not lock Logan County
residents into a plan that doesn’t work well. He also noted that May
and June of each year are “critical” times for electric rate
pricing. Ending the short term program in June will allow Pruitt the
opportunity to search out the best price and make a sound
recommendation for the next one to two years, based on those rates
established in June.
Lincoln Alderwoman Michelle Bauer asked about using ICCAN again. She
wondered if there were other consultants that were being offered the
chance to bid on representing the cities and county. Johnson said
yes, that others had been contacted. ICCAN, he said, had offered
their services at the same rate as in their last contract. The quote
from ICCAN, he said would be the least costly.
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Logan County Board Member, Chuck Ruben, spoke in support of ICCAN
and Pruitt. He reminded the group that in 2014, it was Pruitt who
recommended that the aggregation program be suspended because it
would not save money for Logan County residents. He said he thought
it spoke well of Pruitt that he would make a recommendation that did
not benefit him and his company.
Johnson also reminded the group that while Pruitt may make the recommendation,
the various municipalities, and the county act as a consortium that has the
authority to say ‘no’ to the recommendation. In addition, with an “opt-out”
program, every household in the county can also say no, if they don’t believe
the aggregation will be to their benefit.
Logan County Board member Gene Rohlfs brought up a question about involving
Farnsworth Group in this process. He wondered if that was necessary. Bill Thomas
of the Logan County Economic Development Partnership said that “yes,” having
Farnsworth involved was to the advantage of everyone involved. Rueben noted that
the role of the Farnsworth Group was to act as a general contractor in the
process, doing the work for the county and other governing agencies.
In the first round of aggregation, Farnsworth Group acted as the mediator,
taking the aggregation program to the various communities, and holding special
meetings for constituents to help educate them on the aggregation process.
One advantage of electric aggregation is that it creates a larger buying group
by incorporating all the municipalities in the county, plus the unincorporated
areas of the county, into one consortium. When seeking competitive bids on
electricity, there is no “group discount,” but at the same time, electric
providers are attracted to a larger customer base and will make a greater effort
to bid competitively to gain those customers.
It was also noted by Logan County Board Chairman David Hepler that the governing
bodies have the option to collect a small administrative fee in the electric
aggregation program. In the first round, the county did not collect a fee, but
Hepler said this time, that option would be considered by the board. The county
would be able to collect that fee only from residents and businesses in the
county that are currently Ameren customers, but not inside any incorporated
portion of the county.
[Nila Smith] |
