Electrical Aggregation

The City of Alliance is about to embark on something new. Electrical Aggregation. Huh? What in the world does that mean? The confusing title is really rather simple. It’s similar to bulk buying. It’s just like when you go to the wholesale club and buy the biggest package to save money. But in this case, we’re shopping for low rates on electricity and not paper towels or cereal.

To purchase electricity at a "bulk" rate, you have to "aggregate" or in other words, gather a bunch of people together to buy from the same company. That’s what the City of Alliance is doing. We are gathering together our residents to buy electricity at a bulk rate.

So, how does this effect the residents of the City of Alliance? Well, the electric bills will be smaller by at least 3 percent, maybe more. But other than that, you probably won’t notice a difference. Your bills will still come from First Energy. If your electric goes out, you will still call First Energy to report it and they will still be the ones to fix it. If you have an electric bill of around $50 a month, you will save at least $1.50. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, so why bother?

Just think if you were operating a commercial business that had an electric bill of $5,000 a month. The 3 percent savings would amount to $150 a month. To a business that amount of savings means a lot. That is one of the reasons the City has initiated this opportunity. We think it will be good for our business, our residents and our economic development future.

The City is not forcing any resident to participate. If a resident wishes to negotiate electric rates on their own and purchase electric from another supplier they can. All they have to do is opt-out of the aggregation by filling out and returning an opt-out form that will be mailed to them. The City is suggesting residents wait for the second opt-out form to be received before making a firm decision. The second form will have more accurate amounts for comparison to current electric bills. While we strongly encourage residents to participate and receive these savings, we won’t be forcing anyone to do anything. City residents who are on the PIPP (Percentage of Income Plan) program will have their electric aggregated by the State of Ohio and will not be participating in the City of Alliance’s plan.

In the next few weeks residents will probably hear more about electrical aggregation than they ever wanted to know. But remember, in no case will participants in the program be without power or stranded without a provider of electricity. There will be no new electric lines run, no new City department, no new City employees, and no cost or profit to the City. Residents within the city limits of Alliance are automatically included. You don’t have to do anything. If you have questions, call the City’s Development Director, Vince Marion, at 330-829-2235.