Centralia residents who have been avoiding Ameren’s skyrocketing electrical rates by being on the electric aggregation program will see much higher rates when the current contract expires on December 31st.
Salem City Manager Rex Barbee indicated at Monday night’s city council meeting that while Salem is part of the same group of municipalities with contracts expiring at the end of the year, he doesn’t believe Salem’s electric aggregation has yet been bid by Good Energy.
Good Energy’s Steve Bryant says the new aggregation rate in Centralia will increase the average electric bill for an average residential user of 800 kilowatts monthly by roughly $62 per month beginning in the New Year.
The current aggregation rate is $0.0429 cents. It will almost triple to $0.1210 cents. The new contract is for a 22 months period. The rate is still slightly below Ameren’s current rate from October 1st to May of next year of 0.12236 cents. If the rate from Ameren continues to increase, residents and small businesses will be protected over the life of the contract.
Centralia City Manager Kory Smith says residents and small businesses concerned about a decrease in Ameren rates could simply opt-out of the program.
Over the next 60 days, each household will receive a notice from Ameren stating their accounts will return to the utility, but only for two billing cycles. Shortly thereafter, residents will receive the opt-out letter from the new supplier Constellation. If residents and small businesses wish to continue participating n the program, they simply do nothing. They automatically are enrolled when the program restarts with February’s billing cycle. Lastly, Ameren will send a third letter stating you have chosen Constellation NewEnergy, and residents and small businesses have ten days to opt out. Unless account holders opt out of the program they are automatically enrolled.
Smith says since the inception of the program over a decade ago, every community has realized savings for their residents over the length of the program. While there is no guarantee, he says the success of the program speaks for itself.
Questions and concerns about the municipal aggregation program can be addressed via email at gecsi@goodenergy.com or by phone at 1-844-686-4244.
This story has been rewritten to indicate that Salem’s electric aggregation contract has not yet been bid by Good Energy.
