Aggregation

(c) 2009 F. Bruce Abel

This article below cannot be gainsaid, but has an "I told you so" flavor. Looking backwards is a traditional selling point, and implies that the future will replicate the past. But comparing what happened over the past year ignores the technical fact, as I pointed out in my last aggregation post, ("I told you so") that one cannot anticipate what the Duke electric rate will be beyond the next quarter of the year, due to the Rider FPP, whose components have been declared a trade secret.



Green residents saving on electric bill
By Kurt Backscheider • kbackscheider@communitypress.com • October 15, 2009

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Green Township residents and business owners enrolled in the township's electric aggregation program have saved a total of $2.4 million in energy costs so far this year.
Don Marshall, president of Eagle Energy, attended the Green Township Board of Trustees meeting Monday, Oct. 12, to update the board on the savings residents and business owners have realized since the program began in April. Eagle Energy is a Bridgetown-based consultant group assisting the township with administration of the aggregation program at no cost to the township.
Aggregation is a process by which a community combines its residents into large buying groups, which can result in increased buying power and lower rates for members. Township voters approved adopting the electric aggregation program in November 2004, but township officials held off contracting with an energy supplier until December 2008 because prices on the wholesale market were not competitive.
Trustees voted last December to enter into an agreement with Dominion Retail Inc. to be the electricity supplier to residents, small businesses and township facilities. Dominion Retail provides electricity, natural gas and energy related products to 1.6 million customers in 12 states.
"The trustees and the administration of Green Township should really be commended for taking the initiative to give customers in Green Township a choice, to allow them to participate in the choice program and achieve what we believe are significant savings so far," Marshall said.
He said those who are buying their electric through Dominion are paying a little less than 7 cents per kilowatt hour, while those who are not in the program are paying a little more than 9 cents per kilowatt hour right now. He said on Jan. 1, 2010, those who aren't in the program are projected to pay 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and Dominion's rate will increase to 7.45 cents per kilowatt hour.
"There will still be a significant savings, about 2 cents per kilowatt hour difference," he said.
Township residents and business owners enrolled in the program are saving between $15 to $20 per month in electricity costs. Marshall said the average customer in the program will save more than $150 in a one-year period.
He said there are about 16,000 residents in the program who have saved a total of $1.9 million so far this year, and the roughly 1,300 small business owners in the program have saved $500,000 so far this year.
"That's pretty phenomenal," Marshall said.
Residents and business owners who want to learn more about enrolling in the aggregation program can call the township at 574-4848.