Lombard chooses 100 percent renewable for electricity aggregation
Lombard residents who go along with the village’s electricity aggregation program can expect to save an average of $309 a year on their power bills under an electricity supply contract approved Thursday night.
The village board approved a two-year contract for 100 percent renewable energy from FirstEnergy Solutions at a rate of 4.64 cents per kilowatt hour, a decision that garnered applause from a group of Sierra Club members wearing T-shirts saying they were “another voter for clean energy.”
“We’re looking to you to save us money, to protect the environment, to buy clean and renewable energy,” Lombard resident Lonnie Morris told the board before the vote.
Morris leads a clean energy promotion program of the Illinois Sierra Club called Cool Cities and previously told the board her research showed the price difference between renewable energy, from sources such as wind or solar, and traditional coal or nuclear-based power, would be slight.
The village opted for First Energy’s 100 percent renewable option, even though it will cost the average resident about $9 more a year than the nonrenewable option, Finance Director Tim Sexton said.
For such an insignificant difference, Trustee Laura Fitzpatrick said she supported purchasing the renewable energy option and asked her village board cohorts to do the same. They did, unanimously.
Residents and small commercial electrical customers soon will be given two chances to remove their accounts from the aggregated program before it’s expected to take effect in July.
“We’re looking for July so we can get most of the summer savings for residents,” said David Hoover with the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative, the consultant Lombard selected to help with seeking power supply bids.
The contract also includes a price match clause guaranteeing FirstEnergy will beat ComEd’s power supply prices in the event the ComEd rate decreases. Terminating an account before the two-year contract ends would trigger a $25 fee for residential customers and a $50 fee for small commercial customers.