MOUNT VERNON — City council members approved legislation relating to the city’s electric aggregation program in a special session on Monday.
One resolution amends the program’s operations plan. The other authorizes the administration to contract with a supplier.
Before the vote, Mount Vernon resident Jennifer Shoman asked the administration to highlight the changes made in the operations plan and share the updated version before the council’s next meeting.
She also questioned whether the city had a clear projection of development and administrative costs associated with the aggregation program.
Shoman referenced Section E under miscellaneous governance guidelines. Section E states that all development and administration costs of the program will be covered through the inclusion of an adder to member bills.
“I recognize that the city sees potential benefits in working with brokers such as Palmer Energy Company, but of course that partnership comes with costs. I have not seen these costs clearly addressed aside from the mention of the adder fee in Section E,” she said.
“While I understand that the city has no control over the broader rise in electric rates we’ve already seen this year, it would be helpful to have an estimate or at least a clear explanation of what this additional charge will be.”
Shoman asked council members to ensure due diligence to guarantee that any negotiated aggregation rate is discounted enough to fully offset the adder fee.
Increasing the aggregation pool
The city’s current contract expires in December. The city wants to partner with Fredericktown to expand the potential customers in the consumer pool. A larger pool helps secure a lower rate from energy suppliers.
Palmer Energy, the city’s energy consultant, has sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP).
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers said Resolution 2025-93 allows the city to “sign at the same time with Fredericktown when we get those RFP results back.”
“We want to make sure that we’re locking in at the same time that Fredericktown is because that’s how this aggregation is going to work,” he said. “That’s what 2025-93 does: It permits the administration to lock that rate in.”
Salyers does not anticipate changing suppliers.
“Dynegy is our current supplier. … That has been, across the state, the most competitive supplier right now,” he said.
Salyers anticipates the city and village will sign a supplier contract early next week.
Amending the operations plan
The only change in the operations and governance plan is the removal of the name of the city’s former broker, Buckeye Energy Brokers. The company’s name was replaced with the term “provider.”
Generic language eliminates the need to amend the plan should the city choose to work with another company in the future.
“This is a standard document that comes to us from the PUCO, and the only edited language that we’ve discussed is the removal of our broker,” Salyers said.
Salyers cautioned residents to read the fine print when considering choosing a supplier other than the one the city ultimately selects for its aggregation program.
He noted that while the initial rate per kilowatt hour might be lower, it could rise after several months. Additionally, the contract might include a termination fee.
Salyers said the city chose Palmer Energy as its energy consultant because its the “most reputable public aggregator” chosen by the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and the Ohio Municipal League.
“They’re in 77 counties, over 400 governments. They are the public aggregator of Ohio. And we found that it’s not because we switched that the rates are going up, it’s because the rates are going up that’s why we switched,” he said.
“We wanted to make sure in an incredibly expensive and volatile market, we are doing everything we can both now and long term to make sure that we protect ratepayers from that volatility.
“So if you find something that’s better than what we can offer, take it. But just make sure that it is what it says it is.”
Better customer service
Mayor Matt Starr said another benefit of using Palmer Energy is better customer service. According to Starr, the previous company outsourced its help line to an offshore location.
“When you call Palmer, you’re calling and talking to someone in Toledo. They’ve got the support structure in place, the communication infrastructure in place, which was also a very attractive part of why we wanted to go with, with Palmer in this case,” he said.
City council members adopted both pieces of legislation.
Construction inspection services
Council members suspended the third reading of Resolution 2025-100 and authorized Salyers to contract with Road to Finish LLC for construction inspection services.
Assistant City Engineer Quentin Platt said the company is on the ground 100 percent of the time during projects and provides daily reports.
“They’re kind of like a surge mechanism for us. When we have projects going on that are more than what we can handle in-house, we’re able to contract with them and they can help fill that load,” he said.
“So one week they could be working 50 hours a week, and the next week they could be doing nothing.”
Road to Finish is working on the Mansfield Avenue shared-use path and the Liberty Crossing development.
“They’re putting in the water lines and storm sewers and sanitary sewers, so we need somebody on site inspecting that, making sure it’s done to the city standards, and then following up with us and reaching out to us if they see anything that doesn’t seem quite right,” Platt said of Liberty Crossing.
Platt said the city hit the current contract’s limit of $75,000.
“So at this point, we need permission from you all to continue that contract,” he told the council. “… We’ve got another maybe two months left of good construction weather at best, so we’ll need enough to at least keep it going through that.”
Council members also authorized the auditor to pay two Then and Now bills for legal services.
