ThisWeek CW 07/11/2013
Madison Township trustees have approved a resolution to move forward with an electrical aggregation contract intended to save residents and business owners money on their electricity bills.
They also approved, unanimously, a contract with Border Energy, which will now be reviewed by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for certification before it takes effect.
Trustee Victor Paini said part of the PUCO certification process requires the township to hold a series of public information meetings to allow for residents’ questions to be answered.
“We’ll file with PUCO and then, as part of the steps, we’ll hold some public meetings to allow questions before everything gets implemented,” Paini said. “We hope that this will all go well so the October bill would be the first bill with the discounted rate.”
According to Paini, the township received bids from American Electric Power, Border Energy and Constellation New Energy.
Border Energy will provide a guaranteed 15-percent savings below AEP’s current rate during the same billing cycle, he said.
“The committee wanted to make sure they had a percentage savings rather than fixed rate so we’d be letting the residents know they’d always be saving money,” Paini said. “This company also won’t do a background credit check, and it also allows customers to join the plan at any time without a penalty, but there is a $25 early termination fee if you cancel before the contract is up.”
Township Administrator Susan Brobst said the termination fee does not apply if residents move out of the area.
“This will be a 15-month contract to get us through the end of 2014, which is a better negotiating time frame for us in the future,” Brobst said. “We’ll hold two public meetings, one at Groveport’s Municipal Building and one at the Madison Township Community Center.
“When it is approved, we’ll send out letters to all the residents and businesses letting them know how to take advantage of the program or opt out if they choose.”
The public information meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, at the Groveport Municipal Building, 655 Blacklick St., and at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 30, at the Madison Township Community Center, 4575 Madison Lane.
Madison Township residents passed an aggregation resolution in May allowing the trustees to negotiate electric and gas utility rates; at this time, the trustees have chosen not to negotiate natural gas rates.