Frankfort officials are urging residents to ditch a deal for electricity the village opted into four years ago.
Instead, officials want residents to consider returning to ComEd to take advantage of a drop in its rates for electricity.
Frankfort was among more than a dozen Will County communities that in 2012 took advantage of a new state law allowing municipalities to shop for cheaper rates. Customers had the option of sticking with ComEd, but only a handful of Frankfort’s roughly 7,000 ratepayers did.
But now with ComEd dropping its rate next month, customers will pay about 13 percent more if they don’t switch back by contacting supplier Homefield Energy, Frankfort officials said. Frankfort officials also plan to provide opt-out instructions in upcoming village water bills.
“Our residents will save even more money at this time if they switch back to ComEd,” Mayor Jim Holland said.
The price difference only pertains to the supply portion of an electric bill. ComEd’s rate will drop to 6.19 cents per kilowatt hour in June while Homefield is charging 6.9 cents. In other words, a customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours would save about $8 a month. The savings, however, will not be as much when summer rates expire in October and customers pay 6.31 cents with ComEd or 6.85 cents with Homefield.
The Will County consortium initially secured a two year deal for electricity with First Energy Solutions before moving to Homefield after that agreeement expired. A new deal with Homefield set prices at 6.85 cents per kilowatt hour in 2014 when ComEd was charging 7.24 cents.
The Will County Governmental League says the electric cooperative has saved ratepayers in the 17 member communities a combined $31 million over the past four years. Holland said that breaks down to an average of about $400 per Frankfort household.
“It was a good deal for as long as it lasted,” Holland said.
The city of Chicago ditched a similar program last year after only two years of securing a cheaper alternative to ComEd.
Micah Hirschfield, a spokesman for Homefield parent company Dynegy, said the three-year deal Frankfort joined two years ago was designed to protect consumers against market fluctuations.
“It’s important to note the stability that has been provided to Frankfort citizens and others in Will County,” he said. “We will continue to provide stable pricing over the remainder for the aggregation period.”
The Homefield deal runs through summer 2017. But Hirschfield noted that energy prices have come down and that the agreement was structured so that customers could opt out.
“We’re a company that believes people should be allowed to choose,” he said.
Patrick Guinane is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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