Recently, the Illinois General Assembly authorized municipal governments to bid for electrical service on behalf of its residents and small businesses.

The Village of Barrington Hills will be placing a Referendum for that authorization on the ballot of March 20, 2012. If the majority of voters concur, then the Village can seek lower electric rates for its residents.

Q: How can the Village purchase power at a potentially lower cost?
Deregulation allows the Village to shop for power and purchase in bulk for its residents at a lower price. By voting YES on the referendum, ComEd will then have to compete with power suppliers from throughout the Midwest to provide power.

Q: Who will take care of my power if there is an outage?
ComEd, by law, will still be paid to distribute the power to the homes and businesses in the Village and handle any emergency repairs.

Q: What if I don't want to participate in the program?
Residents will have multiple opportunities to "Opt Out" of the program, which will be your right by law.

details: Illinois Commerce Commission: [Plug In Illinois]

Q: What happens if the Village cannot purchase or negotiate lower rates than ComEd?
Your account would stay at ComEd and

ComEd would continue to be both the power provider and the local distribution company. Either way, ComEd will be the distributor.

details: ComEd: [Understanding your Bill]

Q: Why is this opportunity available?
This is the last phase of the Deregulation Process. Until this state law was amended, only larger customers such as industrial, commercial and governmental entities could participate. Three quarters of these customers are currently purchasing their power from sources other than ComEd.

Q: Why is the Village of Barrington Hills doing this?
We, as a municipal government, are trying to use the new law to benefit our residents and small businesses by saving them money. Approximately 19 municipalities have already gone through the Aggregation process and their residents have received an electric supply price that is lower than the current price offered through Commonwealth Edison. The Village does not profit from this law.

details: Illinois Commerce Commission: [Municipal Aggregation]

Sample of Referendum to appear on the ballot of March 20, 2012. Questions direct to the Office of the Village Clerk 847.551.300, clerk@barringtonhills-il.gov.