Glenview residents curious but wary of electricity proposal

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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:54AM

Glenview resident Stan Rothbardt is a believer in organizing homeowners for buying less expensive electric power.

But he warned village trustees Tuesday night about being wary of “half-baked” power suppliers.

“We consolidated and saved a lot of money, but some suppliers operate like a Ponzi scheme,” said Rothbardt, treasurer of the Glen Shore Condominium Association in Glenview. “Be careful whom you purchase from. Please go ahead with this program, but eliminate the confusion some companies are sending out.”

Village trustees are considering establishing an electric aggregation package for residents and businesses in order to provide electricity at a lower cost. In doing so, those accounts would be bundled, or consolidated, in volume when looking for lower electricity pricing through village-bid contracts with power suppliers.

The first step would be to place a referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot, asking residents to grant the village this contracting authority. A public information campaign, likely beginning in July, would be begun to educate Glenview residents about the issue.

Mark Pruitt, a member of the Illinois Community Choice Aggregation Network, recommended an opt-out aggregation program for Glenview that required customers to stay in the deal unless they officially withdrew.

“We think opt-out is most effective because most people will go with the bids and companies like more accounts involved,” Pruitt said.

In Illinois, 264 municipalities have opt-out referendums on March 20 ballots. This electrical aggregation authority was already approved by referendum last year in the Chicago suburbs of Lincolnwood, Oak Park, Oak Brook and Grayslake.

So far, participating households in those communities have had power bills that were on average 25 percent lower than through Illinois’ default electricity supplier, he said.

Pruitt explained ComEd was not actually a supplier of electricity, but the company that distributed electricity, handled the billing and repaired the power infrastructure. A successful referendum would not empower Glenview to change that relationship with ComEd.

Villages would renew contracts every two to three years, ensure suppliers were fulfilling contracts and continue searching for best rates.

Twenty-two suppliers were in Illinois, but only five were ready to participate in aggregation, Pruitt said.

Some trustees questioned the sustainability of 25 percent savings per bill.

Pruitt said 15 to 20 percent savings could be expected until 2013.

“That’s because large quantities of power have been around since 2008,” he said.

“So this free lunch won’t last forever. I’d like to see more data on pricing and the impact on village energy contracts,” said Trustee Paul Detlefs.