Glen Carbon residents may see changes to electric bills
By Devese “Dee” Ursery
Beginning in 2023, residents in the Village of Glen Carbon may see changes to their energy bills due to a change in energy suppliers.
Glen Carbon remains in the municipal aggregation program, which allows residents and small businesses of the village and other communities the protection of a secured rate of $0.1210 cents per kilowatt, according to a news release from the Village Administrator’s Office.
Constellation NewEnergy, the new energy supplier, secured a contract to supply the Village with electricity for the next 22 months starting in February. That supplier was the lowest and only bid available.
“Once we were authorized by referendum, our municipal group including Troy, Edwardsville, Maryville, O’Fallon, Belleville, Trenton, and many more bid out and chose the lowest bidder and executed a contract for our municipality,” Jamie Bowden, village administrator said.
Residents and small businesses that do not join the municipal program can choose their own electrical suppliers. Residents or businesses can opt-out of the municipal program. For those who choose to opt-out of the program and return to another utility, a one-year wait is required to return to the municipal program.
Bowden stated that since the start of the municipal program over a decade ago, every community has realized savings for their residents over the length of the program. Currently, over 90% of all residents in the participating communities in the Metro-East partake in the program, according to the release.
Over the next 60 days, every household and small business will get a notice stating that their energy services will return to utility for the next two billing cycles, starting in December 2022.
Afterward, residents will receive a letter from the new energy supplier. If residents and small businesses want to continue in the program they don’t have to do anything because they are automatically enrolled when the new program restarts with February’s billing cycle.
“We are fortunate to partner with Good Energy L.P., the largest municipal aggregation consultant in the country,” Bowden said in the release.
Steve Bryant, Regional Energy Manager-Government Affairs of Good Energy said the main goal of municipal aggregation is to give residents a choice other than the utility, in this case, Ameren Illinois.
“We strive to stay under the utility rate, and yet give residents the certainty of what rate they will be paying,” Bryant said. “Over the past 10 years or so, the municipal aggregation program has been successful in being under the utility rate with the exception of a couple of periods of which the utility dropped below our rate after a reset in rates.”
