By CHELSEA McDOUGALL - cmcdougall@nwherald.com
Created: Friday, October 28, 2011 5:30 a.m. CDT
WOODSTOCK – It appears Woodstock could be the next municipality to jump on the electrical aggregation bandwagon.
Voters could be asked this spring whether the City should seek lower electricity rates on residents’ behalf….
However, Mayor Brian Sager urged the Council to move forward with caution.
The measure would lock residents into the new energy rate for three years and “wouldn’t shift the rate of power with inflationary pull,” Sager said, meaning residents’ rates wouldn’t go up in a rising electricity market, but they also wouldn’t go down when the market declines.
The council must approve the measure to be placed on the ballot as a city-wide referendum to be voted on in March. To be on the ballot it has to be approved by early January. It is slated to be on the Council’s agenda Nov. 15.
Educating residents about the process will be key to success with the program, Sager said……
Several other local communities also are pursuing aggregation, including McHenry County, Cary, Marengo and Lakewood. Harvard and Fox River Grove already went to referendum and have locked in lower rates.
Twenty-four municipalities served by ComEd have put referendums on the ballot, and 21 of those passed, according to the Illinois Municipal League and a city report.
Click on the following to read the entire story: http://www.nwherald.com/2011/10/27/woodstock-mulls-energy-aggregation-referendum/a1zigjs/?page=2
