CLIMATE ACTION PLAN - City of Urbana

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URBANA’S ENERGY USE
D. MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC AGGREGATION
Urbana voters approved municipal electric aggregation with a 71 percent vote in the March 20, 2012 referendum. The
referendum allowed the City to bundle, or aggregate, residential and small commercial retail electric accounts and seek
bids for cheaper power.
Starting in August 2012, Urbana residents and small businesses will benefit from a two-year contract with Homefield
Energy of Collinsville provided they choose not to opt out of the electricity aggregation program. As per the contract,
100% of the electricity will either be supplied from renewable sources or will be offset by Renewable Energy Certificates
(RECs) sourced from renewable energy generation including hydroelectric, wind and solar energy. Initial enrollment data
indicates that 95 percent of Urbana’s residential and small commercial retail electricity customers have opted to be a
part of the municipal electric aggregation group.
The supplier, Homefield Energy, is required to provide the following quarterly reports to the City:
(i) A Power-Mix report, demonstrating that the supplier generated or purchased electricity with the claimed
environmental attributes in amounts sufficient to match the actual consumption by customers; that the
same generated energy was not sold to more than one customer; and that the electricity was supplied to
the interconnected grid serving customers. This report must show the source of the power and demonstrate that
the power supplied was in accordance with the State of Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard and the federal
Clean Air Act regulations and permits.
(ii) An REC report providing competent and reliable evidence to support the fact that the supplier purchased
properly certified REC’s in a sufficient quantity to offset the non-renewable energy provided in the mix.
(iii) An Aggregation Report showing the number of customers in the aggregation program, the total cost of energy
provided to the program as compared to Ameren’s default tariff service rates and; the suppliers efforts at
customer education.
Balancing Short Term Benefits with the Long Term Risk:
While the supply of 100 percent renewable power through municipal aggregation is a positive achievement in the short
time-frame, it is important for the community to continue to aggressively pursue energy efficiency measures to achieve
Urbana’s long-term emissions reduction goals.
Renewable energy prices may rise relative to other energy sources once beyond the 2012-2014 contract. Under this
scenario, it may be financially unviable to continue to purchase renewable energy. Therefore, continued efforts to make
the community more energy efficient in the intervening time will help mitigate:
(i)
(ii)
The risk of failing to reach community-wide emissions reductions targets due to a future reliance on nonrenewable
energy sources and;
The risk of future higher energy costs for residents from renewable and non-renewable energy sources.
E. RENEWABLE ENERGY CERTIFICATES 6
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are tradable instruments that can be used to meet voluntary renewable energy
targets as well as to meet compliance requirements for renewable energy policies. A REC is a certificate that represents
the generation of one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity from an eligible source of renewable energy. Each REC
denotes the underlying generation electricity source, location of the generation, and year of generation, environmental
emissions, and other characteristics associated with the generator. RECs represent the claim to the environmental
attributes associated with renewable energy generation.
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Source: Guide to Purchasing Green Power, Office of Air, U.S. E.P.A., March 2010
City of Urbana
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