Evergreen Park Trustees OK Electricity Aggregation Contract

In March of this year, two out of three Evergreen Park voters they wanted the village to join Illinois communities in an electricity aggregation program they hoped would lower their electricity bills.

On Aug. 20, village trustees unanimously approved a contract with Verde Energy USA of Norwalk, Conn., to provide electricity to village customers at a rate of 4.625 cents per kilowatt hour, or about 42% less than ComEd currently charges, according to village attorney Vincent Cainkar. Cainkar said ComEd's current rate for local residential and business customers is 8.04 cents per kilowatt hour.

Residents and businesses will be included in the electricity supply contract with Verde Energy unless they opt out, which Cainkar said they can do at any time with no cancellation fee. There is no charge to be part of the program.

Electricity bills will still come from ComEd, and service calls will still be directed to ComEd, Cainkar said. ComEd, a unit of Exelon Corp., serves about 3.8 million customers in northern Illinois, or about 70% of Illinois' population, according to Exelon's web site.

Verde Energy is one of a number of companies started to take advantage of electricity deregulation in the late 1990s. Deregulation allowed individuals and businesses to choose their electricity supplier from among a number of independent distributors, not just traditional utilities like ComEd. In Illinois, residents and businesses can negotiate with suppliers on their own or join together in the hope of securing lower rates.

This spring, 304 Illinois municipalities and unincorporated communities voted on electricity aggregation referendums on local ballots; 243 passed, 60 failed and results were unavailable for one. More cities and towns, including Chicago, are voting on electricity aggregation in November. The idea is that by banding together residents and businesses can save more money and more easily navigate the electricity supply market than they could alone, or by sticking with ComEd.

Evergreen Park used the services of two electricity aggregation consultants in its search – Illinois Energy Aggregation LLC of Oak Lawn and Progressive Energy Group of Evergreen Park. Verde Energy's bid came through Illinois Energy Aggregation. Oak Lawn village trustee Robert J. Streit is a co-owner and principal at Illinois Energy Aggregation, along with Dennis Brennan.

According to a news release from Illinois Energy Aggregation, the rate Evergreen Park got from Verde Energy was lower than many other municipalities had been able to secure. Hickory Hills, for example, chose a firm that will provide electricity at 4.98 cents per kilowatt hour. Justice will pay 4.87 cents, Orland Park 4.823, Palos Heights 4.80 and Palos Hills 4.74.

Aggregation consultant's fees are paid for by the electrical suppliers, which are figured into the cost per kilowatt hour that eventually get passed on to consumers.