Lindenhurst, Lake Villa, Highwood seek joint electricity bid

The partnered communities of Lindenhurst, Lake Villa and Highwood began the bidding process for electricity suppliers Thursday under their electric aggregation program.

Bids are due by June 25 at 3 p.m. All three towns will execute separate agreements that night, as there is a 24-hour deadline, said Lindenhurst Assistant Village Administrator Kevin Warwick.

The Lindenhurst village board will review its agreement that night at its meeting at 7 p.m.

To save money, the group decided not to use a broker and strategically planned their bidding period to follow the release of the new ComEd rate.

“We are hoping to get in the 4-something cents (per kilowatt hour rate) like a lot of other communities,” Warwick said.

Regardless, ComEd would continue to distribute the electricity supply, provide maintenance on the system and respond in the event of a power outage. The delivery rate is decided on by the Illinois Commerce Commission and applies to all customers.

“It’s no different on our part; the only difference that a customer will see is the (supplier on the) bill will be different, and the bill will hopefully be lower,” Warwick said.

Once the village establishes a contract, residents and small businesses will automatically be included in the agreement unless they decide to opt out in the first 21 days, in which case they would not be charged.

By joining together, the three communities hope to receive a more competitive rate.

“We really expect to save some money,” said Lake Villa Treasurer Lori Heitman. “We’re hoping to get a better rate with more users.”

The city of Highwood, with a population of about 5,000, became involved for economic reasons as well. Jon Kindseth, assistant to the city manager, said he expects residents to save 30 percent to 45 percent on the power supply.

“Highwood is a pretty small community, so we had to pool with larger communities so we could benefit from the size,” Kindseth said. “We hope to basically get the same rates as some of our neighboring communities.”