Harrisburg voters decide electricity issue

Harrisburg voters will decide whether or not to participate in an electricity aggregation program on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.

What does that mean?

In a question that appears on the bottom of the ballot, voters will be asked if the city should have the authority to arrange the supply of electricity for its residents and small commercial retail customers who have not opted out of such a program.

Harrisburg Finance Commissioner John McPeek supports the referendum.

"Municipal aggregation is a great idea. It will give residents and small businesses of Harrisburg an opportunity to save money on their electric bills," he said.

Harrisburg resident Connie Tuttle said she has heard about the initiative, but she still has some concerns.

"I don't fully understand it. Would we still be buying power from Ameren? It makes common sense that if a group is together, they may have more bargaining power. Does Marion have this? Ameren has worked well for me," Tuttle said Monday.

Select Energy Partners has been retained by the city of Harrisburg to help with the implementation of an aggregation program, said Anna Baluyot, managing partner for the firm. Select Energy Partners is a consulting firm based in Chicago.

"The major benefit is that if this referendum passes, the residents would be paying less for their energy," she said. "The municipal aggregation process gives the community more negotiation and buying power. With municipal aggregation, you are not buying your electricity from Ameren Illinois. You opt to join our group and we buy the power through our group to get the best rate by pooling all of the load together of the community. With municipal aggregation, you get a preferred rate."

Baluyot said Select Energy Partners has been working with 40 communities, including Marion and Carbondale, and that Harrisburg is one of the last of those communities to consider entering municipal aggregation. If the referendum passes, the city will proceed with an initiative to find competitive electricity rates for its residents and businesses.

According to Baluyot, if those rates turn out to be lower than those from Ameren Illinois, residential and small business accounts that are still with the utility and located in Harrisburg would be served by a new supplier. However, they would still be billed by Ameren.

"Ameren Illinois would continue to operate as a distribution company and would not make a profit on the sale of electricity. In the case of storm damage and isolated power outages, Ameren would continue to respond to power outage emergencies just as it does currently," she explained.

Baluyot said Harrisburg intends to allow residents or small business owners to opt out of the program at any time without penalty. Additionally, those that have already signed a contract with alternate retail electricity suppliers would be automatically excluded from the program, yet they could choose to join after the expiration of their present contracts.