Schaumburg considers electric aggregation after all

Among the many suburban municipalities pursuing electric aggregation programs, Schaumburg is more or less bringing up the rear with its Tuesday decision to aim for the same type of referendum on Nov. 6 that most held in March.

Though trustees unanimously directed the village staff to begin preparing the paperwork, the final decision of whether to put the referendum on the ballot will be made Aug. 14.

Village officials professed strong reasons for not running the referendum last spring, but Trustee Marge Connelly recommended a change of course at this month’s Finance, Legal and General Government Committee meeting.

Connelly said the electricity supply rates many municipalities recently negotiated are yielding significant savings over ComEd.

“A lot of us were surprised that their rates were good enough to be worth it,” Connelly said.

One of the few examples before this spring was Oak Park, which received permission from its residents last year to seek an alternate energy supplier. At that time, it didn’t appear that such programs yielded much savings, Connelly said.

Furthermore, Schaumburg has had a tradition of avoiding village-initiated referendums since about the early 1980s.

The fact that residents can already opt out of ComEd service on their own weighed heavily on Schaumburg’s decision not to run the referendum in March.

But that last point is still of significance, Connelly said. Even if a November referendum is approved by voters, it would still take a few more months for Schaumburg to be able to approve a contract with an alternate supplier.

“I hope people don’t wait because they can save money today,” Connelly said. “If you can get a six-month contract and start saving money, don’t wait for us.”

But she cautioned against residents opting out of ComEd service with a one- or two-year contract, as they would then be unable to join the village’s possibly better contract without paying a penalty.

Much remains unknown about how ComEd’s own rates will change in June 2013, but Schaumburg will be a lot closer to knowing how the market may be affected by next spring, Connelly said.