 The development partnership was largely behind the idea of getting
Logan County, Lincoln, and the surrounding communities of Atlanta, Emden, Middletown and Mount Pulaski involved in an aggregation
plan. According to Mike Maniscalco, executive director of the
development partnership, it began with the choice of the partnership
to bring BlueStar Energy to the various community leaders as a first
choice of a consultant.
Maniscalco said the manner in which the partnership did this
didn't sit well with everyone, and he was criticized for making the
choice for the governing bodies.
Therefore, when the deals with BlueStar more or less fell apart,
the partnership saw it as another opportunity to get involved and
help all the regions of Logan County.
"We decided we had started this, and we were going to see it
through," Maniscalco said.
This time, however, the board decided not to offer their
recommendations until after the two vying for the consultant job,
ICCAN and Good Energy, had made their presentations to the joint
city-county board meeting on Tuesday night.
Maniscalco said his board had received the written Q-&-A Mayor
Keith Snyder had sent out. The board had reviewed the questions and
answers from ICCAN and Good Energy thoroughly. In addition, they had
done their own research on the two firms, both collectively and
independently.
When the partnership had their board meeting on Monday, the
members were confident in their choice of ICCAN but decided to wait
and hear the presentations with the city and county before making a
solid final decision.
Maniscalco's board consists of members of the city council and
the county board as well as others. He said several partnership
board members were in attendance at the meeting Tuesday night,
including himself and Steve Smith in the audience, Mayor Keith
Snyder and Alderwoman Kathy Horn on the city council, and county
board chairman Bob Farmer and member Bill Martin.
The presentations by Mark Pruitt of ICCAN and Javier Barrios of
Good Energy solidified the partnership board's decision to support
ICCAN.
In the presentations of the two firms, there were several
differences in what their approach to aggregation for Lincoln and
Logan County would be.
One of the most noticeable differences in the two firms came as
they answered questions about volume discounting. The question was
posed: Would Logan County benefit from joining forces with other
areas such as Peoria?
Pruitt said that statistically, nothing has proven the electric
rate will be discounted by volume. He said where the discount can
come in is through the fee charged by the consultant.
Barrios, on the other hand, said volume discounts were out there.
He noted it was a part of the marketing process, and he used as a
comparison that "everyone knows Wal-Mart gets better prices than
small businesses do because they can buy more."
Tuesday afternoon, Maniscalco was asked about this issue and who
was right and who was wrong.
He said it really wasn't a matter of calling one right and one
wrong; it was a matter of looking at who had the numbers to support
their claims.
He said Good Energy had not produced evidence that large volume
buying will be cheaper.
On the other hand, Pruitt had shown them the numbers and had even
offered an example of a large group going together, and in the end
they actually paid more for their electricity than other, smaller
groups had.
The story behind this comes down to the large group spending too
much time getting everything in order. The bottom line on buying
into electricity is that it sells like a commodity such as soybeans
or corn. The prices change several times a day, so timing is crucial
to making the best purchase.
Another startling difference between the two firms is in the fees
they charge. Good Energy quoted their fee Tuesday night as 75 cents
per megawatt hour, while ICCAN said they would set a price "not to
exceed" 20 cents per megawatt hour.
Good Energy will collect their fee from the winning bidder of the
electricity, but in the long run, that cost will eventually find its
way to the consumer.
ICCAN said they preferred to have the governing bodies pay their
fee, but that it could be added into the cost to the consumer if
needed.
Either way, the bottom line is that the cost will go to the
consumer. Therefore, if 75 cents is not needed to get the same
services, the question is raised as to why the people of Logan
County should have to pay it.
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Maniscalco was asked why electricity aggregation was important to
the development partnership, the county and the citizens of the
county, and why the partnership chose to get involved with this.
He explained that first and foremost it is good for the
community. He noted that every dollar made in Logan County will be
spent seven times over in the local businesses. If the people of
Logan County can save money in one area, they will have it to spend
in another, making it a good move for the local economy, and it
improves their quality of life.
In addition, the partnership is looking forward to adding
electric aggregation to the Logan County resume as it seeks to
attract new businesses to the community.
Maniscalco said doing this will show business owners that Lincoln
and Logan County are concerned about their citizens and want to
offer them the best choices. It shows the county cares about more
than just business, it cares about its people.
Maniscalco also noted that as the partnership was looking at
this, they concluded they were the ones best suited to try to bring
everyone together.
"We became aware there were no other entities that could drive
this (project) countywide. We wanted it to be countywide because it
wouldn't be good for everyone to enter into different agreements
with different prices," he said.
As an organization serving the entire county, the partnership has
access to all the governing bodies in the county. In addition, he
said it was good for the partnership as it gave him and others on
the board more real face time with those community leaders.
On Wednesday evening the city and county had a meeting at the
office of Mayor Keith Snyder. Those in attendance were
representatives from the city and from the county's insurance and
legislative committee.
The intent of that meeting was to compare their impressions and
take back to their respective boards their recommendation for a
consultant.
Maniscalco attended the meeting with his recommendation of ICCAN,
but the final decision will be in the hands of the voting members of
the Lincoln City Council and the Logan County Board.
In a letter sent by Mayor Keith Snyder after Wednesday night's
meeting, he stated a consensus had been reached and that that
decision will be given at city and county board meetings
respectively for a vote.
In addition to the city and county, the other incorporated areas
in Logan County will also have to decide what they want to do.
Maniscalco said Wednesday afternoon that Atlanta Mayor Fred
Finchum attended the Tuesday night meeting in Lincoln and will be
reporting back to his board on the events.
The village of Emden had already signed with BlueStar. When the
change came about in that company, they recommended ICCAN as a
substitute. Emden decided to go with that recommendation, so they
are already in the process of signing with ICCAN.
As of Wednesday afternoon Maniscalco had not yet spoken with
leaders in Middletown or Mount Pulaski, but he intends to do so in
the near future.
So, now that everyone knows who their choices might be, what role
will the development partnership play from here on out? Maniscalco
said the partnership is willing and ready to step in and help with
the aggregation process as much as they are wanted or needed.
"We will be right there with them, but when they tell us they
don't need us anymore, we'll take a step back," he said.
[By NILA SMITH]
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