Rolling Meadows moving forward on electric aggregation
Rolling Meadows will hold two public hearings in early May about electrical aggregation in the city, which residents voted to support in March.
During the primary, dozens of communities across the state approved electrical aggregation, which lets them leverage greater buying power and get lower rates. ComEd will still provide service, delivery and billing.
Though several neighboring towns in the Northwest suburbs, including Arlington Heights and Palatine, are working in a consortium to bid for aggregate electricity in a larger pool, Rolling Meadows is working alone with consulting from Good Energy, a company that has worked with about 60 other municipalities across the state, including Aurora.
Gary Fogelman, Good Energy marketing coordinator, updated the Rolling Meadows committee of the whole on Tuesday with the next steps for the electric aggregation process.
Fogelman estimated that savings will be between 25 percent and 30 percent for residents but will have better price comparisons after June 1, when ComEd announces its prices.
Fogelman said prices will range from 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour to 6.25 cents per kilowatt hour, while ComEd is expected to charge more than 7 cents per kilowatt hour.
“The beauty of this program is we're aggregating all of these accounts into one gigantic bid,” Fogelman said. “The leverage is enormous, and suppliers are extremely eager to bid on it.”
Rolling Meadows will hold the two public hearings in city council chambers at 7:30 p.m. May 8 and May 10 for residents to ask questions. Residents not interested in the electric aggregation program will have the option to opt out.
After the public hearings, Rolling Meadows will take bids from licensed suppliers and determine which is able to give residents the best price.
The committee of the whole approved giving the selected supplier 30 days to mail a letter explaining the opt-out process to residents. After that mailing, residents will have 18 days to return that opt-out form.