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Local residents voted down energy aggregation proposals last year, but aggregation is back on the ballot for November. A lot of folks are still confused by the term.
Scioto County Commissioners support the issue, and Commissioner Bryan Davis explained why at Thursday’s County Commissioners meeting. “I will try to answer this as clearly and as briefly as possible,” Davis said. If the measure passes, Davis said officials would shop for electricity on behalf of the citizens in the unincorporated areas of Scioto County. This includes everywhere but Portsmouth, New Boston, South Webster, Rarden, and Otway.
“In order to do that, we have to get it approved. That doesn’t mean it will automatically happen. It authorizes the Scioto County Commissioners to work with Palmer Energy, who we already use for all county facilities, to go out and shop for electricity.”
Davis said the benefit to consumers is that there is more buying power of hundreds of thousands of consumers in multiple counties. Davis said aggregation initiatives are usually supported by voters.
He said that if you’ve already signed a contract with another energy aggregation company, you’re locked it, but when that contract is up, you could look at the rates the county has been able to negotiate and decide if you want to switch.
He said those on low-income programs would be exempt from this. He said country residents would also have the opportunity to opt out of aggregation. He said commissioners would not do it unless they could find a good rate.
He said Portsmouth also planned to put new resolutions forward for gas and electric and are in the process of choosing a company to partner with. Davis said if the city choose Palmer, it would increase the buying power for Scioto County residents. “We’ll see which direction each takes. The overall goal is to save people money. We’ve tried this before, and it failed at the ballot box. They we got hit with rate increases. It’s really too bad. We would have locked in at a ridiculously low rate, and we would have locked in for three years.”
Davis said Green Township had taken part in electric aggregation for years, saving residents a lot of money on energy bills.
“You won’t see any change in your bill. I want to make that clear. You’ll still receive and pay a bill from AEP.”
Commissioner Scottie Powell said, “The reality is that by combining everybody’s purchasing power, you’re able to get lower fixed rates. You’ll know what your budget is for three years. We’re combining the purchasing power of all these households to go to big companies and get the best deal.”