Village says to ‘opt out’

Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges wants St. Joseph residents to know their options.
At a recent village board meeting, Fruhling-Voges said that the electrical
aggregation program the village belongs to had found an electrical rate
that was significantly lower than Ameren.

That changed on June 1.

Reg Ankrom, President of SIMEC LLC, which works with the village to find
residents the cheapest electrical rate, emailed Fruhling-Voges to tell her
that Ameren had announced a residential electric rate that is nearly one
percent per kilowatt-hour less than the Village's electric aggregation
rate of 8.66 cents, effective July 1.

“At 7.877 cents per kilowatthour, Ameren's new rate would provide annual
savings of $78 to the typical residential consumer, who uses 10,000
kilowatthours a year,” Ankrom said. “Although St. Joseph’s MEA rate was
lower than Ameren’s electric supply cost at the time the Village got
competitive bids for its program, recent auctions for energy supply have
produced significantly lower charges for electric generating capacity and
fuel, the major components of electric aggregation rates in Illinois.”

Fruhling-Voges said her recommendation to residents is that they opt out
of the  contract with Homefield. Residents should have recently received a
letter from Homefield with instructions on how to opt out of the program.
Residents can also call Homefield's toll free number, 866-694-1262 to opt
out. 

To opt out, residents will need to have their ten-digit Ameren
account number, which appears in the upper left corner of their Ameren
bill’s first page. Callers can avoid lengthy wait times by leaving a
request for a return call. Calls will be returned in the order received.
Fruhling-Voges tried to opt the entire village out of the rate with
Homefield but residents must opt out on an individual basis.

“Thankfully we have the ability to opt out without any penalties,” she
said. “This is always a chance that we take going to the market place to
get them a better rate.”

The Village designed its electric aggregation program to assure that
participants have access to the lowest electricity price available on the
market by permitting them to opt out at any time and at no cost.

The Village last year paused its MEA program for 12 months when market
volatility sent competitive prices above Ameren’s. Electricity prices have
been volatile in the regulated market, as well, over the past year.

Ameren’s regulated supply rate for residential customers more than
doubled—from 5.478 cents per kilowatthour to 11.833 cents over the last 12
months.

Ameren will continue to deliver electricity to residents and small
businesses, answer calls about power quality and outages, and bill for all
electric supply and distribution services. Answers to questions about
delivery service and bills are available by calling Ameren’s toll-free
number at 800-755-5000.