HOWELL — Municipal officials are moving forward with Howell’s energy aggregation co-op, which is expected to provide residents with electricity at a cost lower than what they are currently paying.
A representative from Commercial Utility Consultants, West Chester, Pa., spoke to the members of the Township Council at their Feb. 4 meeting regarding the upcoming steps to be taken for the co-op and how information will be presented to the public.
Commercial Utility Consultants was appointed Howell’s energy consultant in July 2013. The consultant will seek the lowest bidder to provide energy for the co-op agreement. The firm’s contract with Howell will expire in July.
Mayor Bill Gotto said the consultant will attend the council’s Feb. 18 meeting to provide the public with information about the energy co-op. Residents will have the opportunity to ask questions about what is in the works.
Gotto said the council expects to introduce an ordinance on March 4 naming an energy provider.
Commercial Utility Consultants is expected to mail information to residents and to establish an 800 telephone number that people with questions about the energy aggregation program may call. Those steps would be in addition to the current phone calls that are being made to residents, which will stop once a resident opts out of the energy aggregation program or switches to a third-party provider.
“If you are already on a third-party [energy provider], you will not be on the auto-inclusion list,” Gotto said. “If you are not on a third-party provider, you will automatically be added [into the energy aggregation program]. The law requires it to be an opt-out program.”
Commercial Utility Consultants said it would offer residents several ways to opt out of the energy aggregation program if they so choose.
“We formed the co-op, and the way it works is that we get the best rate by capitalizing on the benefit of scale” of Howell and the participants in the co-op, Gotto said. “We have our community, Farmingdale and Point Pleasant Beach in on it. One town, in this case it is Howell, is the lead agency, and any municipality that wants to piggyback on that with the rate that gets guaranteed by our process can just flip the switch and be a part of it.”
Gotto said he is encouraging anyone who has questions or is curious as to what the energy aggregation co-op is all about to attend the Feb. 18 council meeting.
“I would encourage everyone to listen and understand what [energy aggregation] is and then ask questions,” the mayor said. “I always hear time and time again, ‘What can you do to lower my taxes by $10?’ And honestly, I don’t know that I can do that.
“Township expenses are not going down and people want more services, but if we have the opportunity to save someone money somewhere else on their household expenses, I will do that. You have to be educated and know what this is about; this is not just jamming local government down somebody’s throat,” Gotto said.
Contact Greg Kennelty at [email protected].