Electric Aggregation - Let's Go Green, not Brown

UPDATE.... March 23rd Special City Council meeting. Hats off to Councilman Paul Frank for "getting it" and joining us in voting for the 100% Green Power option. This option would have saved us $19/mo. off current pricing on a average home while removing over 50 Million lbs. of emissions by using green power. On the good side staff did a great job getting individuals an option for green power at a reduced rate. Unfortunately looking at past experience only about 3% of homeowners are expected to take advantage of this offer so we must all pass the word........ Aggregation does work and was supported by over 75% of our voters. Reducing our costs and raising our green energy purchases, its not too bad!  You will be getting notification from the City over the next few months explaining the details.

At the March 12th City Council Meeting (click on Item 14 on agenda list to watch discussion video) we talked about the decision point of how much green power buy-in that Highland Park wanted to sign up for as part of our contract with our energy supplier.

The cost of savings by keeping the same brown power of 7% mandated green share would be about 30% off the currently charged Com Ed energy rate. We were shown the average bill was $77/month and that with the aggregation bids we would be able to lower these average rates to $54.25- $56.00 / month. That would be a savings of approximately $21.00 to $22.75 /month to the average homeowner.

Now looking at past bidding prices the cost of Green Energy represented by REC'S (Renewable Energy Credits) was about 2% more for a 100% Green Energy commitment from Highland Park. What this means is the cost would be only 1 to 2 dollars more per month and our savings from the current Com Ed energy charge would be $19.00 to 21.75/ month and we would be supporting a 100% green energy platform. (additional costs for 25% through 100% renewable energy over brown energy range from 25 cents a month to 2 dollars) We could not get any other Councilmembers to acknowledge the great importance of us integrating some level of green energy credits understanding the forthcoming impact of the vast majority of residents adopting this program by default.

As leaders in sustainability this was a no brainer for Councilman Jim Kirsch and myself but could not get the others on the City Council to sign on. By a 5-2 majority the City Council voted to not support any green energy REC'S and voted to write a Brown Energy contract to save 1-2 dollars MORE a month. Jim Kirsch and I were the only Council Members to support Green Energy REC integration in our supplier contract.

I was very disappointed in our City Council and very proud of my colleague Jim Kirsch for standing with me on this issue. How are we leaders in sustainability if we will not support green power with the majority commitment of the City of Highland Park.

PLEASE LET ME HEAR YOUR COMMENTS PLEASE!!