Proposal could save money on utilities

Last Updated on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 03:34 pm Written by Christie Rotondo Wednesday, February 20, 2013 03:31 pm

But not everyone is on board with aggregation

WILDWOOD- City commissioners are looking to save residents hundreds of dollars a year on their utility bills by adopting an energy aggregation plan.

John Fish, a representative of Commercial Utility Consultants, presented the proposal Feb. 13. He said that by combining all the electric and natural gas accounts of residents and businesses in the city, third party suppliers are able to reduce their costs because they receive a bulk number of new customers. They then are able to give everyone a cheaper rate.

Commercial Utility Consultants handles the bid process, paper work, and finalizing agreements for the municipality, according to Fish.

Other towns are looking to get in on the deal. Middle Township and Stone Harbor are already also looking to aggregate the accounts of residents and businesses. Fish said that if the three municipalities aggregated all their residents and businesses together, each municipality would see additional savings as well.

“Residents will only see a different supplier on their bill,” Fish said. “All it’s going to do is save them money.”

Fish explained that Atlantic City Electric will still be the provider for Wildwood’s electricity, but the supplier will be changing. He also added that Atlantic City Electric doesn’t see any additional profit or loss by changing suppliers.

If city officials decide to go forward with the aggregation, Fish said, residents will have the option to opt out of the program. He also said that dissatisfied customers will have the right to leave the aggregation program at any time.

“To me it’s a no brainer,” Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr., said. “Who would want to opt out of saving money?”

Not every municipality is jumping at the offer, however.

In North Wildwood, city administrator Lou Belasco presented the idea of aggregating the city’s utility accounts on Feb. 19, but council was hesitant to do so.

City Council President Pat Rosenello said that residents could already opt to change their third party suppliers on their own, and added that he didn’t want the city to force residents into making the switch.

“I don’t know if North Wildwood needs to take on another role,” Rosenello said. “They don’t need the city to make a decision for them.”

Fish said that Stone Harbor is looking to start a co-op with neighboring municipalities for the aggregation plan, which Wildwood commissioners agreed they would be interested in joining. However, they chose not to introduce an ordinance allowing for the aggregation process to begin until Stone Harbor does so. City solicitor Marcus Karavan suggested that the commissioners hold off until Stone Harbor passed an ordinance, and said that he had advised Middle Township to do the same. He’s also that township’s attorney.

Karavan said that Stone Harbor is set to introduce its ordinance on March 3, and suggested the city follow up with a Wildwood ordinance at its March 13 commissioners’ meeting.

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