Some Kane residents may soon see electricity savings
Residents in most of unincorporated Kane County may finally see savings on their electricity bills shortly after the first of the year as county board members moved toward locking in a lower rate Wednesday.
Voters gave county officials authority to shop for a lower rate following a successful referendum on ballots last March. County board member Kurt Kojzarek has spent the nine subsequent months leading the board's Energy and Environmental Committee through the process of setting up the parameters of the process, selecting a consultant to shop for the rate, determining an appropriate administrative fee and, now, getting ready to lock in a new electricity rate.
The county board's Executive Committee approved a plan to give County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen the authority to lock in a new rate immediately after the county's consultant secures a bid low enough to actually save residents some money. Normally, such contracts would go through the full county board committee process to win approval. But electricity rates fluctuate so widely and rapidly that whatever rate the consultant secures won't be guaranteed longer than 24 hours. If a lower rate can't be achieved, there will be no deal and unincorporated residents will continue with ComEd as their provider.
The full county board is expected to lock in the new power for Lauzen next Tuesday. The county could then lock in a new electricity rate any time after that. If a lower rate is secured, unincorporated residents would start seeing savings about two months later.
"Hopefully, we can get something good," Kojzarek said. "I'm still skeptical as to how good of a rate we're going to get. I don't want people to think they are going to save thousands of dollars because I don't think the numbers are there. But if we can save them $100 or $200 a year, or even $10 a month, I'd be happy with that."
The consultant the county hired, the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative, only gets paid if a lower electricity rate is secured. Kojzarek said that setup provides some assurance that residents will get the best rate possible.
"The fee is contingent on how much they can save us," he said. "So as soon as they see a good rate, they are going to jump on it because it means more money for them as well."
Individual unincorporated residents can opt-out of the county's deal, and stick with ComEd, if they don't like the deal. Unincorporated residents in Aurora and Dundee Townships will not be impacted by this change as they approved their own electric aggregation programs through previous ballot questions.