West Chester, Springfield and Colerain township residents voted three years ago to allow their local governments to explore the possibilities of electric and gas aggregation programs.

So far, residents in those three communities have only had the possibility of participating in gas aggregation, which officials described Wednesday as “pretty much a wash” when it came to savings.

West Chester’s Administrator Judi Boyko said the township — as a whole — has saved more than $900,000 by participating in the gas aggregate program.

Should an electric aggregation contract come to fruition in time, officials estimate a majority of West Chester Twp. residents who are eligible to participate in the program could see a savings on their electric bills starting in April, according to Mark Burns, president of Independent Energy Consultants, the townships’ broker.

Burns said of the 40 electric aggregation programs he manages across Ohio, the average residential customer saves between $50 and $200 per year.

But, because of market fluctuations, it’s nearly impossible to predict even a rough estimate of savings for local residents, Burns said.

Although the decision was unanimous from Springfield Twp.’s side of the room, West Chester Twp. Trustees were slightly more divided, approving the move 2-1.

Trustee George Lang expressed his concern for the program’s lack of success for natural gas customers, and said “I really don’t have confidence in our broker,” a man with whom he’s had admittedly limited contact.

Springfield Twp. Trustees, however, countered Lang by saying they had the utmost confidence in Burns, and were pleased with Wednesday’s presentation.

As he has indicated in the past, Lang said governments shouldn’t be involved in the free market, and “I think we should walk away from it.”

Under certain stipulations, nearly 17,600 residential and small commercial customers would be eligible for participating in the electric aggregation program, according to Burns’ presentation Wednesday.

Should a contract be verified in the coming week, Burns said eligible residents would receive notices in the mail explaining their automatic participation in the program.