Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council - Aggregation

Summary

The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) has brought together more than 350,000 residential customers from 112 member communities in eight northeastern Ohio counties to buy power as a group. Voters in each of these communities approved the formation of NOPEC in November 2000 by passing ordinances that authorized their local government to aggregate all utility customers within the community. NOPEC, a non-profit organization, is the largest such public aggregator in the United States. In March 2001, NOPEC signed a six-year supply contract with Green Mountain Energy Company, which will provide power to customers within NOPEC unless they choose to opt out. Green Mountain will obtain 98% of its electric supply from natural-gas-fired power plants and 2% from renewable-energy resources. Service from Green Mountain began in September 2001 for NOPEC residential customers living in Ohio Edison service areas. Service for Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company customers began in November 2001. City facilities, county facilities and small commercial customers became eligible for service in September 2002. City and county facilities will receive a guaranteed savings of 6% off the generation shopping credit of their bill if they choose Green Mountain Energy electricity through NOPEC. Eligible small businesses will receive a guaranteed 4% discount. NOPEC consumers will save 1-3% on the generation portion of their electric bill compared to the standard offer price of FirstEnergy, increasing to 1.5-3.5% in the final two years of the contract, which expires in December 2006. In addition, there is a 5% rate reduction mandated by the state as part of the deregulation process, meaning NOPEC customers are paying from 6-8% less for electricity generation than they did prior to the onset of deregulation.