Area officials seek energy deals

By David Skolnick

Girard and Struthers voters will consider whether to permit city officials to negotiate electricity aggregation deals.

Voters in Boardman will decide May 5 whether to allow township officials to negotiate deals to buy natural gas and electricity in bulk in hopes of providing lower energy bills for residents and businesses.

For those in Girard and Struthers, they’ll vote the same day to give authority to city officials to buy electricity.

Residents and other users in the township can decide not to participate in these utility programs, also called aggregation programs.

If the gas-aggregation proposal is approved in Boardman, the township is interested in working with other nearby communities, initially Austintown, to create a larger customer base that officials hope will reduce the fixed cost, said Boardman Administrator Jason Loree.

Austintown, where voters approved gas aggregation in November 2006, is interested in such a partnership, said Austintown Administrator Michael Dockry.

If Boardman’s electricity aggregation proposal is approved and results in a savings, the township would look in the future to partner with other communities, Loree said. It is hoped that would result in a great savings, he said.

Struthers Mayor Terry Stocker said he expects a savings to electric customers in the city if the issue is passed.

“How much? I don’t know,” he said. “The price has to be negotiated. The more people we have, the better rate we’d get.”

Girard Mayor James Melfi said electric aggregation will help the city “get the best rates for our citizens. It’s an option to give our citizens a lower utility bill.”

Like Stocker, Melfi doesn’t know how much can be saved by those who sign up for the electric-aggregation program should it be approved by voters.

Aggregation hasn’t been tremendously successful in the Mahoning Valley.

Members of the gas-aggregation program in Austintown are paying $10.64 per MCF — a natural-gas measurement of 1,000 cubic feet — based on a fixed rate township officials approved in September 2008.

Natural gas is being sold now for a little more than $7 per MCF, Dockry said.

“It was a great rate at the time,” he said of $10.64. “People think we can change the contract. But that’s a rate we have for a year.”

But Dockry said township residents should look at the $10.64 rate as the most they should pay for natural gas.

If they can get it from another company at a lower price, they are free to do so, he said.

Residents can return to the township aggregation cost at any time, but their current contract might impose penalties for such a move, he said.

The township is looking to lock in a price for the next 12 months in the $7 range in the coming months, Dockry said.

Like Austintown, Liberty ended up with a price for its gas-aggregation program that is higher than the going rate.

Residents in Liberty’s gas aggregation program are paying $10.88 per MCF through next month. The fee will drop to $8.99 for October and to $8.42 for November and December.

“For the most part, ... [aggregation has] been beneficial to our residents and I’d recommend it,” said June Smallwood, the township’s special projects administrator.

Voters in Liberty approved gas and electric aggregation in November 2005.

Electric aggregation “is a little disappointing,” Smallwood said.

Aggregation reduced the cost of electricity by 5 percent for those in the township participating in the program, but officials there had expected a greater savings, Smallwood said.

“Any reduction is better than nothing,” she said.

skolnick@vindy.com