Street light supplier proposed

BENTON — Representatives of Affordable Gas & Electric, a brokerage firm based in Mt. Vernon, made a presentation to the Benton City Council earlier this week.
Rob Wielt, senior consultant, and Jeff Haarmann, managing partner of the firm, pitched the council about contracting with one of their suppliers for electrical service to the city. Specifically, the brokers said they could save the City of Benton money by providing a supplier to provide off-peak electric service for the city's street lights.
"Right now, the bulk of your accounts are with another supplier and that contract expires in December of this year," explained Wielt. "The main thing is your street light accounts are with Ameren and they are not under contract. We brought some rates here that could save the city several thousand dollars by putting the street lights under competitive supply."
Haarmann said AGE now represents several Chambers of Commerce south of Interstate 70 and 58 communities in Southern Illinois for residential electric aggregation.
Haarmann said his firm will be providing an update on the firm's successes at the Feb. 18 meeting of the Southern Illinois Mayors Association.
Haarmann said what the city used to get as a discount from Ameren for street light use is now being used as an annual upfront payment.
"What that is allowing you is to find a market where electricity rates are lower than what Ameren is currently charging you for those street lights."
Haarmann said he could secure rates for 21, 33 and 45 months. He said Ameren's current rate is 4.45 cents per kilowatt hour. He provided supplier rates ranging from 3.39 to 4.44 cents per kilowatt hour from various suppliers, and the savings realized by the city.
"We're at the low point of the market right now for electricity so being able to find these rates at these terms is a way we found additional savings for street lights specifically," he said.
Haarman's investigation revealed the city uses 1.1 million kilowatt hours for street lights and 8.1 million kilowatt hours for all municipal buildings.
Ameren would still be responsible for the maintenance of the street lights, Haarmann reported.
The council took no action on the proposal, but thanked the AGE representatives for the presentation.