City of Lincoln negotiates new electric aggregation contract

 

[April 28, 2022] 

At the Tuesday night meeting of the Lincoln City Council, Alderman Rick Hoefle shared information about the city’s new electric aggregation contract with a supplier named Constellation.

He noted that Lincoln residents had started receiving letters from Constellation this week advising them of the change and offering everyone the opportunity to “Opt Out” of the new contract. Opting out would mean that residential customers in Lincoln would stay with, or return to, Ameren Illinois as their electric supplier.

Residents have until May 10th to opt out, and if they do so, they will not be able to change to Constellation for one year. However, if they do not opt out and later wish to do so, they may, but again will have to remain out of the program for one year.

Hoefle said that the news about the change was not all good or all bad.

First, the city’s current aggregation contract is expiring. That contract, with Total Energy, provided electricity to residents at a rate of $0.04240 per kilowatt hour.

The bad news is that the new contract, which the city has signed for a three-year term will cost close to double that amount at $0.07859 per kilowatt hour.

The good news is that residents who go with Constellation will still save more on electric costs than if they return to or stay with Ameren. The straight summer usage rate for Ameren is currently $0.0946 / kWh. In October when the summer usage rate expires at Ameren the new straight rate will be $0.11502

Doing the math, the new contract with Constellation will cost consumers $78.59 per 100 kWhs of usage. With the straight summer rate, the same amount of usage will cost $94.60 with Ameren and in October that total will increase to $115.02

The contract with Constellation is for three years. Hoefle said that while Ameren rates could go down in that period of time, experts predict that it probably will not. Therefore, he feels that the city is offering residents the best possible rate.

Even so, consumers do have that right to opt out if they so choose.

Also consumers need to take into consideration that Ameren does offer special pricing for all electric homes as well as other concessions. Lincoln residents are encouraged to examine their current bills, see if they are entitled to price breaks through Ameren that would make their rate lower than Constellation, and if so, then exercise their right to opt out of the city aggregation program before May 10th.

The letter from Constellation has a form to fill out at the bottom and a self-addressed, postage paid envelope for returning it to the company.

If the consumer does not wish to opt out, then they do nothing. The rates and the new company will take effect automatically and will show up on their monthly bill from Ameren.

[Nila Smith]