Tuesday, April 17, 2012
The council voted to select Direct Energy as its residential electricity supplier with a two-year contract that promises a rate of 4.54 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Darien residents who opt in to the city’s electrical aggregation program could find their electric bills slashed by roughly 35 percent once the new rates take effect. City Council voted Monday to accept a bid from Pittsburgh-based Direct Energy that charges residents and small business owners 4.54 cents per kilowatt-hour. The average resident will see a $260 annual savings over the term of the contract, said Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren. According to the Department of Energy, the average U.S. home uses 958 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month. ComEd—Darien’s current supplier—charges 7.73 cents per kilowatt-hour, though it will set a new 12-month rate in June. The new rate won’t likely fall below 7 cents, said Northern …
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The city on Monday held its first of two public hearings on how electrical aggregation will work.
A little less than a week after Darien residents voted yes to allow the city to negotiate bulk electric rates on their behalf, City Council on Monday held the first of two public hearings on the topic. NIMEC Director David Hoover took questions from aldermen about how the practice of electrical aggregation will work, but no residents outside the elected officials participated in the hearing. One revelation that surprised some members of the council: In terms of business customers, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) recently ruled that only small businesses that use 15,000 kilowatt hours or fewer of electricity per year can aggregate with residential customers. Hoover said such a business would be roughly the size of a dry cleaner. (…
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Thursday, March 22, 2012
The city will hold two hearings over the next couple of weeks to kick off the bid process for lower electric rates.
Now that the electrical aggregation referendum has passed, Darien officials plan to act quickly to secure electric rates, Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said Wednesday. The city will hold the first of two public hearings about the process at 6 p.m. Monday in City Hall. The second hearing will take place at 7 p.m. April 2 prior to that evening’s City Council meeting. If everything goes as planned, City Council will vote on a plan as well as an ordinance accepting the referendum at the April 2 meeting. The city hopes to be able to go out to bid shortly after that, Coren said. “The faster we move it, the sooner residents will start saving money, so we’re trying to put it on the fast track,” he said. The referendum passed Tuesday …
Monday, March 19, 2012
Darien voters will be asked on Tuesday to decide whether the city should look for cheaper electricity suppliers. Here are a few points about what this means.
In 2009, Illinois government passed a law that would allow municipalities to put electricity supplying out for bids to find a competitive rate, so long as the residents were in favor of doing so through a referendum vote. On Tuesday, the following question will appear on the March 2012 Primary ballot for Darien residents. “Shall the City of Darien have the Authority to arrange for the supply of electricity for its residential and small commercial retail customers who have not opted out of such program?” With that in mind, here are questions and answers brought up during a session about electricity aggregation with a representative from the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative. Do electricity suppliers actually manage …
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Updates on issues Patch has been following.
City Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing a partnership with Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative (NIMEC) to negotiate electric rates. Darien residents will vote March 20 on whether to allow the city to secure power rates on behalf of its citizens. The resolution gives the city permission to begin consulting with NIMEC prior to the election. For more on this resolution, read Council to Vote on Securing NIMEC to Negotiate Electric Rates. The council also unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting the construction of wells used for drinking water within a 530-foot radius of the former BP gas station property at Plainfield and Cass. For more on the well ordinance, read City Scales Back Proposed Well …
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Even though the referendum has yet to pass, the city is prepared to begin working with a consultant prior to March 20.
The city of Darien is forging ahead with plans for negotiating residents’ power rates in the event a referendum on the March 20 ballot passes. City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to secure the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative (NIMEC) as a broker and begin consulting with them prior to the election. A question on the Illinois primary ballot will ask Darien voters if they want the city to bid for electric rates on behalf of residents and small businesses. People will have the option to opt out of the program, should the referendum pass. The city plans to move quickly if it does pass in order for the rate change to be reflected on July bills, Darien’s target date, Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said at the …
Thursday, February 9, 2012
If the measure passes on the March ballot, the city said it will move quickly to negotiate power rates.
The city plans to move quickly if Darien residents approve a referendum on the March 20 ballot allowing the city to negotiate electricity rates on their behalf. Two required public hearings could be scheduled for as soon as the days after the primary, which happens on a Tuesday, City Administrator Bryon Vana said at Monday's City Council meeting. Residents in some municipalities are collectively saving as much as $100,000 a month once they make a deal for bulk power discounts, Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said. “If we wait a couple of months, it could be quite a bit of money in people’s pockets,” he said. The village of Oak Brook, in partnership with Grayslake and Lincolnwood, secured an electricity rate of 5.52 cents per …
Monday, April 4, 2011
Question on the April 5 ballot will ask voters for permission to seek out more affordable electricity rates.
While many referendums ask for more money, next week Darien is asking taxpayers for permission to seek out more affordable electricity rates to help residents and small businesses keep cash in their pocketbooks. The question on the April 5 ballot will ask voters for “authority to arrange for the supply of electricity for its residential and small commercial retail customers who have not opted out of such a program.” Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said he sees no downside to voting in favor of the referendum. “If we receive higher bids we can default back to the ComEd rate and we wouldn’t be any worse for it,” he said. “But we are expecting to save money. I don’t see any reason not to try and take a chance to save money.” In …
Monday, December 20, 2010
The council will vote after the hearing on whether to include the referendum on the April ballot.
The City of Darien will hold a second public hearing Monday night at 7 p.m. to discuss whether to include a referendum on the April ballot that would determine whether Darien could negotiate electric rates for its residents and small businesses. In August 2009, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a public act that gave municipalities the ability to bid on electric power rates on behalf of their citizens. The goal is for cities to be able to negotiate a lower price. The act went into effect Jan. 1. The city could get a bulk discount because it would aggregate all the individual Darien customers into one negotiating body, City Administrator Bryon Vana said during the Dec. 6 City Council meeting. All residents and many businesses, including some …
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Lauren Williamson
9:56 am on Tuesday, March 27, 2012
You're welcome, Don. It was my pleasure to attend. Best, Lauren more ›