City selects new power supplier

With its current contract with MC Squared Energy Services expiring in May, the City of Lake Forest has entered into agreement with a new power supply company.

The City Council approved a two-year contract with Integrys Energy Service/Constellation Energy Resources at the Monday, March 16 meeting. City Manager Robert Kiely has been authorized to execute a price lock for all eligible residents and small business customers that do not opt-out of the program.

Unlike the prior contract with MC Squared where Lake Forest chose to implement a 100 percent renewable energy credit (REC), the deal with Integrys is for a 25 percent REC giving residents the choice to pay more for greener options.

In December 2011, the Cities of Highland Park, Lake Forest and Park Ridge, and the Villages of Deerfield, Glencoe, Lake Bluff, Northbrook and Skokie

formed the North Shore Electricity Aggregation Consortium. The consortium was created to act as a collective body of municipalities to create and manage municipal electric aggregation services on behalf of their residents and eligible businesses.

Each consortium community executed a three-year contract with the same selected alternative electricity supplier, MC Squared Energy Services, to supply power to an estimated 90,000 Consortium customers. The current contract with MC Squared is set to expire following the May 2015 meter read. In order to continue with an electricity aggregation program, the consortium members must approve a new power supply agreement with an alternative

electricity supplier.

“This group collaboratively saved the eight communities $36 million. The residents of Lake Forest alone are anticipated to see a savings of approximately $4.8 million through May,” Assistant City Manager Carina Walters said.

The group issued a request for proposals in November to solicit bids from qualified providers and received two. After an evaluation period, the consortium chose to recommend Integrys over Mc Squared as it was the lower bidder. The City of Park Ridge opted to exit the consortium and maintain its relationship with Mc Squared.

With Integrys, the cost for the 25 percent mix (brown energy) is $0.42 per megawatt-hour, 50 percent is $0.83, 75 percent is $1.22 and 100 percent (green energy) is $1.45. Following the state renewable portfolio standard, the average Lake Forest homeowner would see the price of the electricity supply portion of their bill come out to a cost of $1,299 with the first option and $1,326 for the 100 percent option.

“They’re one of only a couple suppliers that can do both electricity and gas,” Kiely said of Integrys. “We have not got into deep discussions with them at this point about gas pricing, but the good news is that we have the summer to negotiate with them before the higher prices of the fall and winter kick in.”

Kiely noted that although the cost for 100 percent green energy is “only $27,” there is the potential for ComEd to give a credit back to its customers that could result in Integrys customers paying more for the renewable energy credits.

The next meeting of the Lake Forest City Council is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 6, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 220 E. Deerpath Road.

SIDEBAR

City Council honors Schachtel

Manager of Dickinson Hall will retire on March 31

Eric DeGrechie, Assistant Editor

There are certain employees that when they leave an organization, people wonder if they can ever be replaced. Marla Schachtel is one such person.

The manager of Dickinson Hall and Senior Services will retire from the City of Lake Forest on March 31. She was recognized for her service at the Monday, March 16 meeting of the Lake Forest City Council.

Schachtel, who has served in her position since 2011, was the longtime manager of the Highland Park Senior Center before that.

“The past four years have flown by for me and each year has brought me closer to many of the members for which I am truly grateful,” Schachtel said. “Gaining their trust as we’ve made a variety of changes has been extremely gratifying.”

During her time at Dickinson Hall, Schachtel successfully implemented “My Senior Center,” a computerized software system allowing members to electronically register for programs and staff to have a centralized database of membership information.

According to the resolution, she also successfully rebranded Dickinson Hall as a place where men and women “Age Spectacularly!” and worked as an outstanding advocate for seniors by creating and fostering relationships throughout the community. Schachtel choreographed the City’s first flash mob allowing members to promote and recruit new membership, while having fun doing so.

“The members bring a vibrancy with them that is tangible and that is what fuels the growth of each individual as well as the growth of the organization itself,” Schachtel said.

Round It Up

A brief recap of City Council action March 16:

• The City Council approved a resolution opposing any reduction in the local government portion of the Local Government Distributive Fund.

• Voted to enter into contract with Universal Abestos Removal, Inc., for an amount not to exceed $135,000 for removal of asbestos from all of the buildings on the former Municipal Services site.