I received an email from one of our Sun City friends the other day with an interesting question. The message read: āEver since we Huntley-ites signed for the favorable electric rate with ComEd coupled with the village of Huntley, I sit here and wonder, How much am I saving? How can I know what a deal we have? Or, is the rate we have not effective at all? The ComEd bill never reveals any of this information.ā
These are great questions. The utility bill itself is somewhat difficult to understand. Yes, even though we may no longer obtain our power source from ComEd, we still get the bill from ComEd because they provide the ādistribution/delivery serviceā for the power. So the bill shows a charge from Direct Energy Services, LLC for the supply of the electrical power and then a separate set of charges appear from ComEd for the deĀ¬livery service.
Direct Energy Services, LLC is the default supplier of power for Huntley residents as a result of Huntley joining the Northern Illinois Governmental Electric Aggregation Consortium last year. So, was it a good deal?
Well, a little research is needed to answer that question. The original consortium agreement in 2012 provided us with a 12-month fixed rate of 4.169 cents per kilowatt hour for electrical power supply. The comparable ComEd rate at that time was 7.73 cents per kiloĀ¬watt hour. That was a 46 percent savings. However, the ComEd rate can vary. If you visit the Huntley Village website, you will see an updated agreement with Direct Energy Services, LLC for the period August 2013 to July 2014. It discloses that the rate will increase from 4.169 cents to 4.987 cents per kilowatt hour. This is approximately a 20 percent increase per kilowatt hour.
At first glance it sounds like a huge increase. However, the alternative rate from ComEd at the time of the new agreement was 5.511 cents per kilowatt hour ā an additional 11 percent beyond the consortium rate. We are still much better off with the consortium arrangement. Since the ComEd rate can vary, it is difficult to calculate exactly how much savings we have realized. Based on our kilowatt usage per year, I figure we have saved somewhere between $150 to $400 last year based on the high and low rates of ComEd provided in the consortium agreements. From the latest NIGEAC agreement, it looks like ComEd has reduced its rates substantially in response to the competition. But the fixed rate from NIGEAC is still a much better deal. Thank you to all who voted yes last year in the referendum to enable Huntley to join NIGEAC.
ā¢ Send in your questions and ideas to: Sun Day, Frugal Forum Column, P.O. Box 7505, Algonquin, IL 60102, or, by email to: thefrugalfoĀ¬rum@gmail.com.
