Joliet hopes a firm that has helped dozens of state and federal agencies navigate electrical rate and pricing structures can help it trim as much as $200,000 from municipal electricity bills.
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The City Council agreed this week to hire Energy Resources Center, a non-profit arm of the University of Illinois at Chicago, to solicit proposals from power resellers interested in servicing Joliet. The center also will provide a detailed monthly summary of energy consumption during that period.
Joliet will pay the center one-half of 1 percent of the annual cost of energy procured, which City Manager John Mezera estimated at $20,160.
Mezera said the 17-month contract should begin before year’s end. ComEd’s 10-year rate freeze expires in January.
During discussion this week at a pre-council meeting, Mezera said ComEd won’t be excluded from the process of requesting proposals.
“We’ll have the option to continue to buy from ComEd and they mark it up and run it through their lines,” he said. “We can test that system.”
But Mezera said ComEd probably would find itself at a disadvantage in the bidding process because it bought power for resale when fuel prices were higher.
Joliet spent $5.6 million in 2005 to power municipal buildings, street lights, traffic signals and water pumping and distribution facilities, said Ken Mihelich, accounting manager . About $3.9 million of that directly paid for electricity; transmission charges accounted for the rest.
Mezera predicted “rates are going to jump 20 percent” beginning in January. He estimated savings ranging from $80,000 to $200,000.
Regardless of who provides the power, Joliet will continue using ComEd’s power lines at no higher cost, Mezera said.