Electricity Aggregation Still Has Juice in Frankfort

Despite some concerns, the will continue to pursue electricity aggregation, something that could net residents lower electric bills. 

At Wednesday's Land Use and Policy Committee meeting, Frankfort officials recommended telling the Will County Governmental League that it's interested in joining the nonprofit organization in a plan to collectively bargain electric rates for participating county municipalities.

Last month, . The idea is that there is strength in numbers, and the league can negotiate a better deal than individual communities or residents because it would be buying power in bulk. But voters must pass a referendum to give a municipality authority to negotiate on a community's behalf.

The next step is for the Village Board to adopt a resolution for such a referendum that would be put on the ballot for the March 20 election, said Mayor Jim Holland, who is also on the league committee that's been researching aggregation. Such a resolution will be discussed at a committee meeting in October or November, and the resolution will go before the board for approval in December, he added.

If Frankfort wants a referendum, it needs to be turned in to the Will County Clerk's Office by Jan. 3 in order to be put on the March ballot.

"You're giving them an option by putting it on the ballot," said committee member and Board Trustee Cindy Heath. "If you don't put it on the ballot, you're really taking an option away. You're making them having to negotiate (electric rates) on their own. If you put it on the ballot, they have the option of letting the village negotiate something lower, and they can opt out of it. So to me, putting it on the ballot gives them more flexibility. Now, you'll have to explain that to everyone, but I think our role as government is to make the right choice for people."

"It should be our responsibility if we can save people money," Trustee Dick Trevarthan added. 

One concern for officials was the idea that residents would feel village government was overstepping and taking away their ability to choose their own electric rates. Trevarthan said he wanted to make sure residents weren't stripped of their ability to search out their own electricity deals. Any aggregation proposition would allow residents to opt out of it.

"I would've said a month ago that it's not our cup of tea. We're not going to make decisions for our residents on what they're electric rates ought to be," Holland said. "They can go out in the free market and buy their own electricity if they want. But at this point, I changed my mind."

Another issue brought up was the potential for low voter turnout in a mid-term election, putting the fate of all residents in the hands of a few civic-minded voters.

"How many people are going to come out and vote in March? ... You've got a small percent of people saying what the whole community is doing" said committee member and Board Trustee Mike Stevens. "That's a concern of mine, how much government is going to be involved with it. It's going to take a lot of education on our part to make people aware what we are doing on our behalf."

With more and more communities looking at aggregation and the governmental league making a strong push for county municipalities to join its coalition, officials are likely to hear from residents about this issue, said Village Administrator Jerry Ducay, something that's happening in other communities. However, Holland said the village hasn't heard from any Frankfort residents yet.

"I think people would be upset with us if they knew the rest of Will County was going down this road to save money, and we made the decision here not to do that," Stevens said.

Although the committee agreed to pursue the governmental league's plan, the village is not bound yet to join the league's county-wide aggregation consortium. An official decision for that would happen in the spring, and then only if the referendum passes. The village also could decide to adopt electricity aggregation without joining the league's group if voters pass the referendum.