Wheeling wants to join other suburbs in quest for cheaper electricity

Wheeling will join six other suburbs in a referendum in March seeking approval to aggregate electricity, which officials say could lead to lower electric bills for residents and small businesses.

On Monday, Wheeling passed a resolution to seek permission to join with Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, Long Grove, Palatine and Vernon Hills to negotiate a contract to buy power from a cheaper energy supplier.

Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said residents may see potential savings ranging from 13 percent to 25 percent over what they are currently paying. The combined population of the seven communities is about 263,000.

Before the group of villages can move forward, voters will have to approve the measure on March 20 granting the authority to solicit competitive bids for electricity.

For residents, ComEd will still be responsible for service, billing and restoring power outages, but the energy will come from one of about 20 suppliers.

Currently, individual customers have the choice of buying power from an alternate supplier, at lower rates, or getting it from ComEd. By buying in the aggregate for a large number of customers, municipalities typically can get better rates than those offered the individual buyer. Residents who do not want to be participate in the municipal purchases program will have the option to opt out.

The group of suburbs is following the lead of Grayslake, which has seen nearly a 30 percent savings by aggregating energy and purchasing it from Wisconsin-based Integrys Energy Systems.

Although Grayslake is locked into a two-year contract, Sfondilis said the consortium will look for a one-year contract because of the constant changes in electricity charges.

If after the referendum and bidding process, the cost savings are only nominal, the suburbs will not be mandated to accept a bid.

Before the referendum, officials will launch a public information campaign and consider hiring a consultant to help with the bidding process.

“This is a win-win situation for everybody in town,” said Wheeling Trustee Bill Hein. “We are partnering up with the communities around us, and this is going to be an advantage to our residents because we should get some lower rates.”