Electricity aggregation to be key issue across suburbs in March 20 elections

People who cast ballots in several area communities on March 20 will be asked to decide whether "electricity aggregation" is the route to go to try reduce their utility bills each year.

Referendums asking local voters to approve the concept will be on the ballots in Chicago Heights, Dolton, Flossmoor, Lynwood, South Holland and Thornton in south suburban Cook County, along with Crete in Will County.

Aggregation entails having towns provide a single source to help local residents get the best rates for electricity. There are three entitles authorized by the Illinois Commerce Commission to serve as electricity aggregators: Progressive Energy Group of Aurora, NIMEC of Prospect Heights and Rock River Energy Services of Oregon.

Those entitles would negotiate with electricity suppliers, such as ComEd and Ameren, which still would be responsible for getting electricity to customers, according to the Illinois Municipal Aggregation of Electric group.

When village officials in Thornton decided to put the issue on the ballot for upcoming elections, they said that electricity aggregation has saved residents of communities that have adopted the concept roughly $200 per year per household on their utility bills.

According to the Municipal Aggregation group, the March 20 elections are merely the third of six steps that would need to be completed. If the measure is approved on election day, those municipalities would have their aggregator negotiate rates with various national and regional electricity suppliers.

Then, if the negotiations produce rates lower than what ComEd or Ameren charge, residents would be transitioned to the new rate scale. The aggregator would then monitor the process to ensure that the utility performance does not suffer — and would renegotiate rates when the contracts expire.

Electricity aggregation won't be the only issue on the ballots for some communities. Voters in Lynwood will again be asked if their municipality should be a home rule community, a concept that voters rejected in 2009.

Home rule communities have extra taxing authority allowing them greater control over local affairs, instead of having the state oversee them. All communities with more than 25,000 residents automatically have home rule powers, but Lynwood's population of 9,007 means voters must give their consent.

Village President Eugene Williams has said home rule authority would give Lynwood more power to negotiate tax deals that could attract more businesses to the village. Critics of home rule argue that it gives local government too much power to raise taxes.

Voters in the Lynwood-based Sandridge School District 172 also will have a say on whether the school district should issue a bond totaling $300,000. Money would be used to give the school district a working cash fund to pay for construction projects, including a new science lab and repairs to the roof of the elementary school at 2950 Glenwood-Dyer Road.