(A) Adopt ordinance. The village shall adopt an ordinance authorizing an opt-out electric aggregation program and this Plan of Operation and Governance.
(B) Provide notice. The village shall be responsible for issuing all required public notices and conducting all required public hearings concerning this Plan, and any amendments thereto, in accordance with § 1-92 of the Act.
(C) Request data. After the passage of the Municipal Electricity Aggregation Referendum, the village with the assistance of the consultant shall submit to Ameren, in writing, a warrant demonstrating the passage of the village’s municipal aggregation ordinance, the adoption of this Plan by the corporate authorities, and requesting the identification of retail and small commercial electric customer account information and generic load profiles.
(D) Maintain confidentiality. The village will maintain the account information it receives in a confidential manner as required by law and will use that information only for purposes of its Municipal Aggregation. The village may assign access to the account information to the consultant for the purposes of soliciting supply and service bids on behalf of the village. The consultant is bound by confidentiality requirements in this regard, and shall only access and utilize consumer data at the direction of the village alone. Account information will be considered confidential and will not be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.
(E) Review accounts. The village and consultant will review the account list to remove ineligible accounts, provided however, that the village and consultant shall have no responsibility to potential aggregation members or the ARES for the accuracy of the account information provided.
(F) Provide information. The village shall be responsible for providing the consultant and ARES with resources and publicly available material to screen out customers who are not located within the municipal boundaries.
(G) Develop request for proposal. The village and consultant will develop a request for proposals (RFP) for electricity services process in cooperation with the aggregation consultant in accordance with the terms set forth in this chapter. The village will inform the potential bidders in the RFP document of the village’s generic load profile information as provided by Ameren.
(H) Evaluate proposals. The village and the consultant will receive and evaluate proposals and select any supplier the village finds to be in the best interest of the village’s residential and small commercial. The village is under no obligation to enter into any service agreement with any bidder and may, in its discretion, choose to reject all bids, or to re-bid the electric service under the same or amended terms of this Plan.
(I) Authorize notifications. The village shall assist the supplier in drafting customer notification materials during the switching and opt-out/in process. The village shall specify the form and content of such materials, and all communications disseminated by the supplier to residents and small businesses during the opt-out/in process must be approved by the supplier.
(J) Responsibility. The village and consultant, as the facilitators of this bidding process, are not responsible for providing electricity to the members of the aggregation, or for billing or collecting for electricity provided under any Aggregation Program Agreement, and has no responsibility beyond the duties described herein. Ameren will continue to provide a single bill to aggregation members for all electrical charges.
(K) Cost reimbursement. The village shall implement and offer the Aggregation Program as a service to its members and associate members. To the extent possible, the Program shall be revenue- neutral. Any village expenditure related to the Aggregation Program may be recouped by the village through a per kWh charge, determined in the agreement with the supplier, which shall be collected by the supplier and remitted to the village. All fees paid or collected by the village in conjunction with the Aggregation Program shall be disclosed to aggregation members.
(L) Energy efficiency and demand response. The village shall refer members and associate members interested in energy efficiency and demand response options Ameren which operates a range of programs to support efficiency and demand response.
(Ord. 13-02, passed 2-19-2013)