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By Dave Greber, Staff Writer Updated 8:20 AM Wednesday, February 24, 2010

WEST CHESTER TWP. — Despite vehement protest from those in attendance, including a member of its board, a majority of West Chester Trustees agreed Tuesday, Feb. 23, to move forward with a voter-approved electric aggregation program.

For the first time since Nov. 2005, when voters approved trustees’ ability to enter into an agreement with a company other than Duke Energy to provide utility services, local residents will have the opportunity to save money on electric bills, trustees said Tuesday.

The agreement approved Tuesday locks in rates that are more than 35 percent below the most recent comparable rate structures offered by Duke Energy, according to a presentation by Mark Burns, president of the township’s aggregation program broker, Independent Energy Consultants. The agreement runs from May to Dec. 31, 2012, with Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Solutions.

Gas aggregation has been used by the township since 2006. Most recently, the program saved West Chester residents and small businesses more than $1.5 million, Burns said.

When nearly 60 percent of voters approved Nov. 8, 2005, the township’s participation in electric and gas aggregation programs, they agreed to automatically be enrolled in the program with a majority nod by trustees. Residents may still opt out of the program from the start, or opt out if Duke’s rates fall below offerings locked in by FirstEnergy. Whether there would be a penalty for opting out of the program in its first six months of existence still remains to be seen, however, as deals were still being worked out during Tuesday’s meeting.

The 2-1 vote with Trustee George Lang casting his traditional “hell no” vote wasn’t surprising. But tensions escalated — before coming back to earth — between Lang and Burns and Lang and his fellow trustees.

Lang argued Duke’s proposal Tuesday for a community endorsement program that was similar to the aggregation plan presented by Burns included a “peace-of-mind” clause that allows Duke to match the lowest rates offered to any community in Ohio.

Following a short but loud exchange, Burns relented: “There is no peace of mind Mr. Lang.”

As he has for the past several years, Lang reiterated Tuesday aggregation had no place in local politics because it’s “government interfering in the free market.”

“What’s next?” Lang asked. “This is a slippery slope when we continue to interfere with free markets and free people.”

Trustees Catherine Stoker and Lee Wong said Tuesday they were employing direction provided by residents some four years ago.

“They (voters) said specifically go for it see if you can find us some savings in electric or gas or both, and give us the option to opt out,” Stoker said. “We did that.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.

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