CIRCLEVILLE – The main topic on this week’s (1-18-22) council meeting was energy Aggregation.
During the meeting a discussion to put energy aggregation on the ballot for Citizens of Circleville to vote if they were interested in moving forward with this price-saving opportunity, but some local citizens came to the council to voice their opinions on why it shouldn’t.
Municipal aggregation is the process by which a municipality (meaning a town or city) purchases electricity in bulk from a competitive supplier on behalf of the residents and businesses within the community.
Basically, the agreement would opt-in everyone in Circleville and it would be up to the citizens to opt-out of the special energy deal. This has arguments on both sides of the fence.
Positives would be that the city of Circleville would be able to procure a competitive electric supply at a cheaper rate than what electricity is costing now.
The negatives would be that everyone opts in and you would have to opt-out or be automatically enrolled in the program.
Several people came to council tonight to tell council people that they feel this limits choice, that they can already shop around and find the best electric deal, that there could be a cost to opting out with this program.
A lawyer representing the Aggregation told the council that the current legislation in front of the council is to ask the voters if they want an aggregation not the details of the aggregations that have not yet been negotiated. He said that aggregation could save everyone money on their electric bills and to consider the idea.
Council was not able to move on the legislation tonight due to several members of the council being out, so the legislation was moved to the next Council meeting.
