Orland Park Looking for a Better Deal on Electricity
Village board will consider a referendum on opening a search for the best rate for power.
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The Orland Park Village Board will soon consider asking its residents whether they want the village to open up a search for possibly better prices on energy.
Village staff proposed Monday night putting a referendum on the March 2012 primary ballot asking residents whether the village should establish a municipal electrical aggregation program, in order to see if another electricity vendor might give home and business owners a better rate. A new state law that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2010 allows municipalities to aggregate energy users – including homes and businesses – and pursue a provider other than ComEd.
Should the referendum pass, but the village doesn’t find a better deal on electricity, then they will simply continue with ComEd, said village manager Paul Grimes during Monday night’s public works committee meeting.
“Most communities that went out to bid, the nearest to us being New Lenox, saved 25 percent on average for the year,” Grimes said. “That doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily see that. We’re a larger community. But we do have an advantage, which is 22,000 households. That is quite a bit of leverage when looking for a price.”
Under the state law home and business owners could choose themselves to pursue cheaper electricity rates, or they can opt into a village-wide program, the latter of which will be the referendum’s focus.
The village board could also decide to set certain parameters of a new energy deal, such as picking a percentage of energy used that must come from renewable sources, Grimes said. Making such a requirement would be done through a separate ordinance than the referendum decision, Grimes added.
Trustee Ed Schussler said it is a “no lose proposition.”
The committee voted unanimously for the referendum ordinance to be heard by the full village board in December.
In This article
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Frederick T. Owens Village Hall
14700 S Ravinia Ave, Orland Park, IL -
Orland Park Village Manager's Office
14700 S Ravinia Ave, Orland Park, IL -
Village of Orland Park Public Works Department
15655 S Ravinia Ave, Orland Park, IL
Paul
7:44 am on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
What happens if the power goes out, are we "last" on the list to be fixed? I think this is a mistake where are the companies based out of, what is the financial intregerty of these companies... I think this would be a HUGE mistake.. there are many more factors then this article is saying..
Mike
8:47 am on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Why doesn't the Orland Park Village Board also put a referendum on the ballot asking residents whether the village should table the Main Street Development project....or at least search for a better financial deal for the project?
Paul
9:37 am on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Beause thats for the benfit of the community!!
Ben Feldheim
12:02 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Paul, next time this comes up, I'll be sure to ask. That's a good question. I know ComEd would actually still end up distributing the power through their networks, but the power would originate from the other providers. How that affects repairs when outages happen though, I'm not sure.
Bob Brudd
1:41 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Gee, if only we could convince the politicians in Washington to approach the bulk purchase of medicines for folks on Medicare and Medicaid, etc., in the same fashion. Oops, I forgot about campaign contributions from the drug companies and their lobbyists. As citizen voters, we need to be aware of similar temptations for our own local political representatives as well. I think the idea of using our population strength as a negotiating tool is great - as long as our negotiators receive no personal benefit by representing our interests.
Mike
2:02 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Come on now Bob. Do you really think our trustworthy Village Board is totally independent in of these matters? For example, do you really think that Village Board members had no personal or business afilliations with the trade unions and financial instiutions which are probably the only groups that will benefit from the Main Street Triangle Project.
Scott Arquilla
3:09 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
At last, this is something the Board should be doing; I support this. As far as requiring a certain amount of energy come from renewable resources, wind energy is very expensive compared to nuclear or coal energy that Com Ed produces. As far as power outages, Com Ed brings the power to each customer; nothing changes. They are obligated to treat every customer like they are buying their power from Com Ed. Our company has purchased power from another provider for a decade with no negative reviews; just the cost is less, especially demand charges which for a manufacturing business can be a substantial part of the total Com Ed bill.
McGinnisSlough
8:20 pm on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Hey, look! They DO know how to do a referendum!
"Hey, let's throw the voters a bone so they forget we !@#$ed them!"
Charles Schultz
4:04 pm on Monday, November 28, 2011
Why not use "Community Choice" Aggregation to develop the local economy and environment, not just buy wholesale power from a new supplier. Aggregation can finance new local customer owned green power, local jobs, carbon reductions. Learn more: Localpower.com