Power Your Town with Green Energy Webinar: How YOU Can Get the Best Value and Green Community Aggregation Tues. Feb 28th 7:30PM RSVP to sarah.gulezian@sierraclub.org for call-in information.

Greening Community Choice Electricity Aggregation

What is Community Energy Aggregation?
Community energy aggregation is when a municipality (or a group of towns) bundles all the electricty needs of its residents together and buys power on their behalf. By using the collective bargaining power of its residents, towns are able take advantage of greener energy choices at lower prices. For many towns aggregation means more than just lower rates, it is also an pportunity to provide the benefits of renewable energy to residents.

Why Is Green the Better Value?
Buying energy from clean renewable sources like wind farms and solar rooftops keep life threatening pollution out of our air and supports the growing green economy. Cities can provide greater value to the community by requesting clean energy not the traditional brown sources of power that pump toxics and carbon pollution into our air. Request local green power and when you flick on the lights, you’ll be jumpstarting the green economy and creating good, stable, green jobs across the state.

How Does It Work?
First, the city council gives approval for a referendum on aggregation to be voted on during the next election. For over 150 towns in Illinois this will happen on March 20th, 2012. Check to see if aggregation is on the ballot in your town here. Next, residents vote on the referendum and if approved, the town will solicit rates from different energy suppliers and hold public meetings. If the town gets an energ ymix and price it likes, it will sign a contract. ComEd or Ameren will still deliver the residents’ power and respond to outages. Residents will have an opportunity to opt out during the process.

Securing the Best Value
Municipalities that only evaluate prices of potential energy packages miss the chance to provide residents with the best value. They should seek the best value for residents by not only considering price, but the type of energy purchased on residents’ behalf. When requesting bids Oak Park found very little price difference and opted to provide residents with a 100% green option. Residents got a better value from saving money off their current bill and by supporting wind farms.

Confused about the process? Take a look at this informational video from the Village of Oak Park. Your town will likely follow a similar process.

Questions? Contact sarah.gulezian@sierraclub.org