New lower electric rate for Fairfield Twp. residents

Last fall, township residents said “yes” when trustees came to them with a plan to save them money on energy bills, and soon more than 5,000 households will receive letters explaining the program that starts in about one month.

Energy service provider Dynergy will contact residents almost a year after the township voted to support giving Fairfield Twp. administration the authority to negotiate the lowest possible energy rates. Officials with the company charged with finding those rates for the township say the electric price will be locked in for a three-year period beginning in about one month.

State law requires townships to ask voters to support ballot questions when it comes to establishing an energy aggregation program, said Fairfield Twp. Administrator Julie Vonderhaar.

However, residents should be wary of similar letters from competing electric suppliers, said Dan Deters with Energy Alliances, the company contracted by trustees to track down the best electric rates.

“There will be these energy companies that will come in that trick people,” he said. “Only the Fairfield Twp. aggregation will have Fairfield Twp.’s logo on the opt out letters. That’s how you know you have the right one.”

Around 5,200 Fairfield Twp. households will receive a letter, which is the number of households that don’t already contract with an alternative energy supplier to Duke Energy. The residents at these households will receive a letter indicating they can opt out of this electric aggregation and not pay the 5.49 cents per kilowatt hour for three years. The current price compare with Duke Energy is 6.35 cents per kilowatt hour, Deters said.

If residents do nothing, they’ll be enrolled, Deters said.

But any township resident can opt in at any time, and he said there’s no penalty. In fact, Deters said residents — even those who have a different energy supplier currently — can opt in without any types of fees or penalties.

“(There are) no fees of any kind at any time,” he said.

Vonderhaar said this program offers the township and its residents flexibility. In addition to giving the residents the ability to opt in and out at any time, she said “this can be shopped at any time” as Energy Alliances will always watch the market.

“They can’t control capacity (of energy use and consumption), but they can control striking time. They felt this was the time to strike because the prices were so competitive,” Vonderhaar said.

Deters’ company is still working to finalize the gas price, “and it’s likely going to be a variable rate for the first month until we can lock in the winter pricing.” He said people will begin to use more gas as fall and winter approaches.

Finding the right rate is like the stock market, said Deters.

“The utility doesn’t make any money on the electric, and the (Public Utilities Commission of Ohio) regulates the price,” he said. “What we do is to go out in the free market and buy it when the price goes down. It’s like a commodity.”

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