Naperville City Council seeks to renegotiate terms of proposed electricity contract

Naperville is the latest suburb to tell the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency it doesn’t like the terms of a proposed 20-year deal that would extend its contract to 2050.

On Tuesday, Naperville City Council members voted 7-2 to continue negotiations with IMEA. However, they are requiring that certain conditions be met for the city to extend its relationship with the agency beyond 2030.

Among the city’s demands are weighted voting rights in the group, which includes 32 communities, and measurable benchmarks to meet carbon-free emissions by 2050.

“A lot of decisions have to be made down the road, but at least we have progress,” Mayor Scott Wehrli said after Tuesday’s vote.

Last week, St. Charles officials rejected IMEA’s contract extension, but they left the door open to consider the agency in the future.

“If IMEA is willing to entertain continued negotiations, then yeah, I think that’s something that we would be interested in,” St. Charles Mayor Clint Hull said Wednesday. “Naperville pointed out a number of things they would want to talk about. I’m sure we would as well if they (IMEA) would be willing to entertain that.”

Both communities faced intense scrutiny as opponents argued neither city should renew an energy contract that ties their hands until 2050. Other objectors raised environmental concerns, noting that IMEA relies on Prairie State Energy’s coal-fired plant in southern Illinois.

“For students like me, this isn’t just an abstract policy decision,” said Rakshita Ruparel, a senior at Naperville North High School and organizer of Power a Better Future, a youth-led group. “It’s our future. It’s the air we breathe, the world we inherit, and the cost our generation will bear.”

Wehrli outlined the city’s terms in a social media post Monday.

Under Naperville’s plan, IMEA would spell out benchmarks to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. For example, under the city’s proposal, IMEA’s energy supply would have to be 50% carbon-free by 2038. If the agency could not meet that goal within two years, the city could opt to contract with other green energy sources to ensure its energy supply hit that milestone.

The city is also seeking weighted voting rights equal to its consumption. Currently, Naperville represents roughly 35% of the energy demand supplied by IMEA. St. Charles represents about 15% meaning the two communities could potentially control half the vote under this provision.

Additionally, Naperville wants a clause that would allow the city to terminate its contract in 2045 if necessary.

Members of the Naperville Energy Sustainability Task Force lauded council members for rejecting IMEA’s current proposal, but said further study is needed to determine if the city’s counterproposal is the best option. They urged the city to seek community input and proposals from other providers.

“It really is an opportunity to create something better,” said Ted Bourlard, a member of NEST’s leadership team. “Now it’s up to us to work hard to negotiate, to listen to everybody’s point of view and try to make it as good an opportunity as we can.”

At an IMEA executive board meeting Wednesday, the board chairman indicated a willingness to continue negotiations, an agency spokeswoman said.

“IMEA’s nonprofit partnership of member municipalities appreciates that Naperville would like to continue to discuss its long-term relationship with the agency beyond 2035 and will be reviewing Naperville’s proposed terms in the near future,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

Wehrli was expected to discuss Naperville’s proposal during an IMEA board meeting Thursday in Springfield. If IMEA agrees to the terms, city council members would still have to approve the revised contract.