Four Northwest suburbs approve electricity aggregation

Unofficial totals show that more than 50 percent of voters in Inverness, Lake Barrington, Rosemont and Schaumburg approved municipal electricity aggregation.

In Lake Barrington, the measure passed with 1,167 votes, or 67 percent of those cast. In Inverness, it passed with 2,869 votes, or 76 percent, of those cast. In Rosemont, with three out of four precincts reporting, there were 921 votes for the measure, or 87 percent of the votes cast. And with 48 of the 50 precincts reporting in Schaumburg, 14,544 votes were for the measure, amounting to 60 percent of the votes cast.

Municipal leaders will negotiate with electricity suppliers to obtain lower rates for residents and small businesses. ComEd will continue to respond to outages and distribute electricity.

Residents will be automatically enrolled, but can leave the program and choose a supplier on their own.

Despite strong disapproval in the spring, Schaumburg village officials agreed to put electric aggregation on the November ballot after seeing savings other municipalities negotiated. Inverness officials also reconsidered their original position that negotiating lower electricity rates on residents’ behalf isn’t the role of local government. Lake Barrington officials didn’t put the referendum on the spring ballot because the gated community of Lake Barrington Shores, which makes up a large percentage of the village, already had its own cost-saving agreement. They too changed their position upon seeing potential savings.