Grayslake Public Question on Electricity Rates

Voters overwhelmingly approved a public question that will allow the Village of Grayslake to seek competitive pricing for the provision of electricity to residents and small businesses.

According to unofficial preliminary vote totals, the question was approved by the following margin:

1. Yes - 1,596 - 80.28%
2. No - 392 - 19.72%

In 2010, the Illinois State legislature gave villages a tool to help taxpayers save money. In order to seek competitive prices for electrical services in one contract, the village sought and received approval from residents through a referendum.

The goal is to combine electrical service for all individual customers into a single bid so that consumers will have lower electric bills and save money, according to the village.

The referendum question on the April 5 election asks Grayslake voters if the Village should have the authority to seek competitive pricing bids for electric services under a single contract.

The village said on its website www.villageofgrayslake.com that it wants to try and save residents and businesses money by taking advantage of the new state law. The Village receives no financial benefit from the bidding process. But if the process results in lower electricity costs, residents and businesses would benefit.

Now that it is approved, the village will begin the process of developing bidding documents and seeking bids from electric suppliers. If the resulting prices are lower than current prices from ComEd, the Village Board would accept the best bid. Since electric prices would be lower, residents and business electric bills would go down.

If people don’t want to participate, in the program, they don’t have to change electric suppliers. Each electric customer would be contacted by the selected new electricity supplier. Any customer may “opt out” of the program and stay with their current electric supplier.