Electric Aggregation Referendum Passed by Clarendon Hills Voters

Clarendon Hills voters overwhelmingly supported an electric aggregation referendum Tuesday night that officials expect will reduce supply rates on residents' ComEd bills in the near future.

Of the More than 70 percent of voters said "Yes" to the ballot question, "Shall the Village of Clarendon Hills 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?"

Of the 3,980 votes on the referendum, 2,822 were in favor of aggregation and 1,158 were against.

Assistant to the village manager Christina Burns said Wednesday morning that, after the first public hearing was held at Monday night Village Board meeting, a second public hearing will be held at the board's Nov. 19 meeting, where it is also expected that an alternative supplier will be selected. 

"We’re expecting to have a contract in place by the end of this month," Burns said.

If that happens, residents wouldn't begin seeing lower prices until at least January, following the mandatory 60-day opt-out period after the contract is approved to give residents who do not want to be a part of the aggregation to alert the village.

Marketing director Sharon Durling of the Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative (NIMEC), the organization hired by the village to help it through the referendum and bidding processes, said at an October Village Board meeting that based on Clarendon Hills residents’ relatively high electricity usage, a negotiated rate of 5 cents per kilowatt-hour is very possible.

That rate would be more than 3 cents lower than the 8.36 cents per kilowatt-hour ComEd customers are currently paying, a rate that is expected to go down in 2013.

READ: How Does Electric Aggregation Work?

Last May, the Village of Hinsdale Board of Trustees, who also hired NIMEC as a consultant, voted unanimously in favor of a three-year contract with Nordic Energy Services for the supply of electricity to Hinsdale residents at a rate of 4.62 cents per kilowatt-hour, about 3 cents lower than the 7.73 cents per kilowatt-hour ComEd rate at that time.

READ: Hinsdale Board Selects Village's New Electricity Supplier

That agreement was reached about six weeks after Hinsdale residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of aggregation.