Northwest suburbs approve new energy supplier for municipal aggregation

Arlington Heights, along with several other Northwest suburban communities, has switched to a new energy supplier as part of the municipal electric aggregation program, village officials say.

The village negotiated a three-year contract making Constellation Energy Resources the new electricity supplier. The current contract with Integrys will end soon.

Constellation also will supply electricity to Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, Palatine, Vernon Hills, Wheeling and Long Grove under the Northwest Consortium that was developed when municipal aggregation was approved two years ago.

The fixed price for the contract will be 6.621 cents per kilowatt hour for 100 percent green energy, officials said. The new cost will be reflected on May meter readings and run through the end of April 2017.

Residents and small businesses will receive a mailing on the program and the option to opt-out of the municipal aggregation program. All eligible customers will become part of the program automatically, but customers who want to opt-out have until March 26 to do so.

ComEd will still be distributing electricity - meaning bills and outage issues will be handed by the utility - but the source of electricity will now come from Constellation, allowing for cheaper prices, officials said.

Any questions can be submitted to the public works department by emailing electricityagg@vah.com or calling (847) 368-5800.