Cary residents can decide to participate in electrical program for clean energy starting in October

The village of Cary is offering renewable energy for residents to use with no changes to their current ComEd rates.

Cary trustees in June approved the electrical aggregation program to run for 12 months starting in October. The program will support more than 3 million kilowatts of green energy.

Residents started to receive letters last week that informed them about the aggregation. Some received notices that require action to opt in, and others will need to opt out.

Whatever decision is made, there will be no changes to rates. And residents will get their ComEd bill as normal, Cary Assistant Village Administrator Courtney Sage said.

Residents who use a different supplier or are on ComEd's hourly rate have the option to opt into the aggregation. Opting in would put ratepayers on the current ComEd rate.

The aggregation was previously in place from 2012 to 2017. There was a pause until now because renewable energy suppliers had rates higher than ComEd's, Sage said.

"We never want to be above that ComEd rate," she said.

The aggregation is a collaboration among the village of Cary, MC Squared Energy Services, ComEd and NiMec.

The program works by having the suppliers purchase renewable energy credits to support wind generation facilities that put renewable energy into the state's grid system.

Renewable energy credits are a way for people to use renewable energy without having their own wind turbines or solar panels. Illinois wind turbines put clean energy into Illinois' electric grid and get distributed anywhere that grid reaches. RECs are a way to financially support clean energy systems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The village of Cary warns that no one will contact residents to enroll in person or through the phone. If anyone claims to be part of the village, ComEd or MC Squared, residents are encouraged to report them to the ICC at icc.illinois.gov/complaints.