Des Plaines sticks with ComEd
A majority of Des Plaines voters last November gave city officials the authority to explore getting an alternative electricity supplier as a way to save residents and small businesses money on their utility bills.
Officials said Monday they investigated - and the cost savings would be negligible.
The end result is the 24,000 residential and small business electricity customers in Des Plaines will be sticking with ComEd, unless they decide on their own to get electricity from a different supplier.
On Monday, the city council voted 5-1 to stay with ComEd, denying approval of a deal with Dynegy, the lowest of four bidders.
Dynegy offered a one-year contract with a fixed rate of 6.694 cents per kilowatt-hour. It also offered the option of a two-year contract with the same rate in the first year and 6.484 cents per kilowatt-hour in the second year.
City officials estimate ComEd's rate in the first year would be 7.17 cents per kilowatt-hour - plus or minus a monthly adjustment factor - so a switch to Dynegy could save the average customer $2.30 per month. But officials don't know what ComEd's rates will be beyond that.
"There is savings (with Dynegy)," said Tim Oakley, the city's director of public works and engineering. "They're marginal."
Most aldermen weren't convinced that was enough to switch from ComEd - a process that would have required sending out notices to all 24,000 customers, only to risk Dynegy's rates being higher than ComEd in year two.
"I believe the significant savings were many, many years ago," said 8th Ward Alderman Mike Charewicz, referring to other towns that pursued electrical aggregation after the state legislature approved it in 2011. "I think we were just a little bit behind the curve."
Fourth Ward Alderman Dick Sayad, who suggested last year the city ask voters about electrical aggregation in an effort to get lower rates, was the lone alderman to vote for a new deal with Dynegy.
"What's nice about this here is that it's locked in for two years," he said. "If ComEd would do that for us, that'd be great."