Several Illinois cities are changing how they supply energy to residents. They are buying electricity at lower rates and selling it to you at a discount. Voters in Galesburg, Knoxville, Annawan, Prophetstown, Tiskilwa and Toulon all gave their cities the okay to start the program.
Galesburg city leaders have picked their new energy supplier and have started to notify customers. However, that process brings out scammers trying to take advantage of the new system. The city and its supplier "Homefield Energy" have started sending out a notification letter to electric customers. The letter is the only way to notify you of changes to service. To make sure the letter is legitimate, it must have an official city logo and there are other things to look out for.
"In order to be enrolled you don't have to do anything," says Galesburg City Manager Todd Thompson, "You will automatically be enrolled."
In the letter it says if you want to be apart of energy aggregation you don't need to sign up for anything.
"Residents won't be contacted by phone or solicited to switch over," adds Thompson, "If you're getting calls asking you to switch over, it's probably someone other than the proper group, which is Homefield Energy."
If you choose to opt out of the program all you have to do is send back an enclosed card back.
"There will be a little card included if you send that in by March 1st, you will be excluded from the Homefield Energy contract," adds the city manager.
Something the city manager says to be aware of is phone calls from other energy companies. He says sometimes they will call claiming to be your new supplier.
"In other cities that have done this program, other energy suppliers have called people indicating they're the supplier of choice and they should switch over to them. However, that should not occur," says Thompson.
Also, don't give out your personal information. It's not required since you are automatically signed up for the program and the opt out card does not ask for personal information. Even with the changes, your bill will still come from Ameren.
"You'll get a bill from them that will say for your supply, Homefield Energy," says Thompson, "If you have outages or problems, you'll still contact Ameren."
The city decided to put energy aggregation on the ballot, because it saves residents and small businesses money, in some cases up to $146 a year.
"It's a very impactful amount for the community at large," adds Thompson.
Energy aggregation bills should go out in about 2 months.
