Letter From the Mayor, John Kahl
Municipal Electric Aggregation is a program that became available in Illinois when Public Act 096-0716 went into effect in 2010. This legislation amended the Illinois Power Agency Act to allow municipalities and counties to aggregate the electric loads of their residents and small businesses in order to negotiate electricity supply rates on behalf of their residents and small businesses. The program is designed to create a stable electric supply group rate for residents and small businesses rather than being subject to fluctuations in the market. The law requires the program to have an “opt-out” option, so those residents and small businesses may “opt-out” of the program if they so choose. Once approved, all eligible residents and small businesses consuming less than 15,000 kWh or less annually are automatically enrolled in the negotiated group rate. For residents and small businesses choosing to “opt-out” for any reason after the initial “opt-out” period, they cannot rejoin the aggregation program for at least 12 months or until a new aggregation program takes effect.
Always grateful,
Normally, residents and small businesses located in East Peoria get their electricity supplied by Ameren. Municipal aggregation changes only the electric supply to the new supplier, Ameren continues to deliver the power, handle billing, and respond to outages. The Ameren delivery charges, transmission service charge and taxes and other mandated charges will not be affected.
Before an “opt-out” aggregation program can be created, a municipality must place a referendum on the local ballot for voters to approve. In accordance with the law, a referendum went before the voters in East Peoria during the March 2012 election. The referendum’s approval allowed the City to establish an “opt-out” municipal aggregation program and paved the way for East Peoria to join neighboring Tazewell, Peoria, and Woodford area municipalities in creating a regional electric aggregation. The municipalities worked with a consulting firm with expertise in electric aggregation to assist in soliciting bids from retail electric suppliers and coordinating the selection of a supplier for the program.
East Peoria continued to successfully facilitate and renew these electric supply contracts over the years. However, savings are not guaranteed. The last three-year municipal electric aggregation contract the City entered into locked us in at a higher rate than the Ameren bundled rates due to the volatility of the market, so there was no costs savings to those who did not “opt-out” of the program. This led to the City Council’s decision to bring on a new consultant in fall 2025. Starting in December 2025, for a five-month period, our new consultant secured a better rate than our previous one.
A decision was made to suspend the municipal aggregation program beyond May 2026 because the pricing received from the alternative suppliers was higher than the perceived Ameren bundled rates would be for the June 2026 through May 2027 period. Ameren recently announced a residential summer rate at $0.11038 per kWh June 2026 through September 2026 and a residential non-summer rate at $0.09912 per kWh October 2026 through May 2027. For comparison, some other local municipalities that choose to take part in a municipal electric aggregation program are locked in at $0.1329 per kWh through May 2027. The City of East Peoria made the right decision by not electing to move forward with another municipal aggregation program this next year. Our consultant provided us with all the information we needed to make the best decision on behalf of our residents and small businesses.
The program will remain paused until at least spring 2027 for re-evaluation. We understand how confusing the structure and requirements of municipal electric aggregation can be and together with our consultant, we seek to minimize any confusion and continue to serve in the best interests of the entire East Peoria community.
Always grateful,
John