Village Might Work With County League to Negotiate Electricity Rates

Village officials will explore the possibility of joining other county governments to collectively negotiate electrical rates, said Mayor Jim Holland at Monday's Village Board meeting. 

Last week, members of the Will County Governmental League, a nonprofit organization that represents county municipalities in regional issues, unanimously voted to pursue electric aggregation for its members, Holland said. 

This means the village, which would be represented by the league, could haggle with electrical utilities for better electricity rates on the residents's behalf. Residents also could opt out of this negotiation and buy electricity on their, something they can currently do. 

"In that sense, people, theoretically, don't have anything to lose," Holland said.

"The concept is that if all of the villages band together the league would be able to negotiate better electrical rates than what ComEd provides the village currently," he added.

The next step is for village officials to discuss the proposal at a Land Use and Policy Committee meeting in September. After that, a public hearing will be scheduled, and board members will vote on a resolution if its something they want to pursue.

If the resolution passes, it will be sent to the county and put on the March 2012 ballot as a referendum for village voters.