Before we went on vacation, my Village of Lakewood sent out the press release below.

I just got around to acting on it.

The points out that Commonwealth Edison, our most avaricious utility–always asking the Illinois General Assembly to raise their delivery charge and rewarding supporting legislators with contributions–now could supply electricity at a lower cost that aggregator Constellation, which has saved us hundreds of dollars in the past.

The press release also refers to participants in the municipalities of

• Algonquin
• Genoa
• Huntley
• Ringwood
• Woodstock

NIGEAC Electrical Aggregation Update

To learn what the opposition has to say about the latest ComEd rate hike plan, go to http://www.noexelonbailout.com/.

As you may know, the Village of Lakewood [and the municipalites listed above] entered into an electrical aggregation-purchasing co-op (NIGEAC) in July 2012 as a way to save residents money on their electric bill.

The very first month of the program, residents saw an average savings of $37.97 per month per household – a savings of almost 43% over Commonwealth Edison’s (ComEd) rate.

At the end of that contract, NIGEAC sought new competitive bids for power.

In July of 2015, NIGEAC entered into a two-year contract with Constellation Energy Services, Inc (CES) and secured a low rate of 6.89 cents per kilowatt-hour for residential customers.

As a condition of accepting this contract, NIGEAC required that CES include a no-termination-fee exit option for residents who elected to return to ComEd service at any time during the term of the agreement.

The fixed rate NIGEAC has negotiated for its residents has saved them almost $500 per household on
average over the course of the program.

However, because of changes in the power market, ComEd’s June 2016 base rate of 6.202 cents/kWh is now lower than NIGEAC’s 6.89 cents/kWh.

Because of this change in pricing, the Village of Lakewood would like to remind residents that you
may exit the NIGEAC program at any time without penalty by calling Constellation at 1-844-257-
8244.

Please have your ComEd bill available when calling, as you will need to provide your account
number.

= = = = =
When I called to ask Constellation to switch me back to ComEd, the lady told me that ComEd only does switches at the next meter reading date.

More importantly, if ComEd rates go up above Constellation’s 6.202 cents/kWh in October (rates are set every three months by ComEd), a phone call to the aggregation company will get me switched back to that rate.