Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Are you confused with all the choices about electricity suppliers??
Well, don’t feel alone: a lot of people are,
so let’s see if we can clear up the issues for you.
Because of deregulation, there are now choices you can make regarding from whom you buy your electricity. And, there are a number of companies fighting for this market! Until recently you had no choice who supplied your power. Last year the Village of Mt. Morris voted to enter into a contract with First Energy Solutions to be the supplier of power in Mt. Morris at a lower per kilowatt hour rate than ComEd’s rate. (Billing and delivery of your power continues to be through ComEd as before.) When you look at your bill you will notice that First Energy Solutions supplies the power instead of Exelon. This was an automatic change in suppliers where you had to do nothing to get the official village lower rate. Letters were sent to each customer in the village explaining the changes and instructing you to do nothing to get the new rate saving you money. This was automatic unless you wanted to stay with ComEd as your supplier, in which you notified the company in writing to NOT make the change for you. In early November you should have received a letter from ComEd confirming your choice of electricity supplier. In January you should also have received a letter from First Energy thanking you for choosing them.
Because of deregulation there are many companies sending out information trying to get you to buy power from them. In fact, as I was writing this article, I received an offer from Nicor Electric offering the rate of 6.57 cents per kWh of power, compared to our village rate of 5.94 cents rate. Our rate is 23.5% lower for residential users than ComEd’s rate!
You have the option to buy from any company you choose, but the village is doing a blanket contract with First Energy Solutions. It’s your choice if you want to change to another company, and you would be on your own in that choice. Bottom line is.....if you’re happy with the choice the village made on your behalf with the village contract, you don’t have to do anything, as you are now receiving a lower rate. If so, just disregard the offers from other companies that you receive in the mail. It’s that simple! If you have questions please stop by or call the Village Hall for more information.