Fox Lake voters to decide electrical aggregation question on ballot

Voters in Fox Lake will decide in November if the village should negotiate on their behalf to obtain the lowest electrical supply rates.

Trustees agreed Tuesday to put the measure on the Nov. 6 ballot and allow residents to decide if the village should be the primary negotiator with numerous electrical supply companies.

“Residents can choose whether we should move forward and broker a deal for cheaper electrical supply,” Village Administrator Nancy Schuerr said. “By negotiating as a village and not individually, people can see between a 20 (percent) and 25 percent savings on their electrical supply costs on their electric bills.”

With the approval of electrical aggregation, the village would negotiate for electrical power from a third party supplier at reduced costs per wattage used. This cost savings would be passed on to the residential customers.

Schuerr said residents would still receive a ComEd bill, but a separate line item on the overall bill would show who the supplier is and the overall rate.

As a collaborative unit, residents who are now unable to change power suppliers could see better rates with electrical aggregation due to the volume of residents negotiating at once, she said.

“If the referendum passes and people stay in the program, people will get the best negotiated supply rate on the market at the time,” she said.

Schuerr said residents will also be allowed to opt out of the collaborative negotiated rate the village approves.

This is the second wave of communities putting electrical aggregation questions on the ballot. The village of Hawthorn Woods recently approved a similar Nov. 6 ballot question.