On November 3, 2015, residents of Sidney, Russia, Botkins, Fort Loramie and Bradford will head to the ballot box with an opportunity to vote on electricity and natural gas aggregation initiatives aimed at securing a bulk negotiated rate for all eligible residents and small business owners in the group of communities.
A draft of the proposed rules that will guide the program for both electricity and natural gas has been prepared for the public to view and a series of public meetings has been scheduled to allow residents to hear an overview of the aggregation initiative and ask questions. The first such public meeting for residents of Sidney is scheduled for Tuesday, September 8th at 6PM at City Hall. Similar public meetings are scheduled for Russia, Bradford, Fort Loramie and Botkins. If the aggregation questions are approved by the electorate by a simple majority, the Rules of Operation and Governance will be officially reviewed after the election and formally adopted as the rules governing the aggregation program.
Jeff Haarmann, Managing Partner of AGE, the consultant working on behalf of the residents of Sidney, Botkins, Russia, Fort Loramie and Bradford on the aggregation initiative said Friday, “The draft of the proposed rules are available for everyone in the community to review prior to the election. Having these rules available ahead of the election, in proposed form, gives the residents the ability to see exactly how the electricity and natural gas programs will be managed.”
The Electric Power and Natural Gas Aggregation Plans of Operation and Governance describes the policies and procedures by which the City will carry out its Municipal Electric Aggregation Program, including those policies and procedures which relate to rates and customer service. The Plan includes information on member education, opt-out procedures, billing, obligations of an electric supplier, solicitation of bids, changes and termination of service and selection of an electric supplier.
Representatives from AGE will be on hand to provide an overview of the program, make available the qualifications of those suppliers who have already submitted their interest in bidding on the collection of communities, as well as to answer individual questions from those who may have already chosen a supplier on their own.
For more information regarding your community’s aggregation vote, and to access the proposed Rules of Operation and Governance visit www.AffordableElectricRates.com .