Mount Prospect sets hearings on electrical aggregation

Mount Prospect will begin public hearings next week on the village’s plans for obtaining lower electrical rates for its residents and small businesses.

The first hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 8 in the council chambers of village hall, 50 S. Emerson St. It will be followed by a second hearing at 6:30 p.m. May 9 in the village hall Community Center.

The hearings and plan are necessary after residents in March supported a referendum allowing the village to aggregate electrical use of residential and small business power customers and seek a lower rate than what’s offered by ComEd.

The village has engaged the services of a consultant, the Northern Illinois Electric Cooperative (NIMEC), to arrange for a supplier. The village will pay NIMEC two-and-a-half cents per kilowatt hour of electricity aggregated to another supplier.

Assistant Village Manager David Strahl told village trustees the consultant would work to get the bids over the summer, when bids are most favorable.

Earlier this week, a consortium of North and Northwest suburbs — including Arlington Heights, Palatine and Buffalo Grove — announced they had reached a deal with Chicago-based Integrys Energy Services to supply power for their residents at a rate about 42 percent lower than ComEd’s.

Asked why the village did not join the consortium, Strahl said “We weren’t invited.”