Liberty Township residents may notice a decrease in their electric bills later this summer due to a discount in the electric-generation portion secured through the North East Ohio Public Energy Council.
June Smallwood, parks and special projects director, said the township chose NOPEC because they are the largest national aggregation council in Ohio. The company, based in Solon, has been working with the township since May of 2006, when the township became one of the first in the tri-county area to get gas aggregation, Smallwood said.
The electric discount will be available to township residents and small businesses. There are just under 13,000 residents in the township or between 5,500 and 6,000 households, Smallwood said. Small businesses are those use less than 500 mcf per year in natural gas, she said.
Residents will see up to a 12 percent discount in their electric generation beginning with the August meter reading. In the first six months of 2010, the discount will amount to 8 percent. For small businesses, the discount will be 9 percent this year and 5.5 percent the first six months of 2010.
''When deregulation took place with gas and electric, the burden was on the consumer,'' Smallwood said. ''The township's participation with NOPEC takes that burden away,'' she said.
NOPEC has partnered with Gexa Energy to provide competitively priced electricity to the residents of Liberty Township, Smallwood said.
Within two to three weeks, residents will be sent opt-out forms from NOPEC giving them the choice of accepting the offer. Residents still have the option of choosing their own electric carrier, Smallwood said. To accept the offer, residents simply do nothing and they will automatically be included in the program. First Energy of Ohio will continue to be township resident's supplier.
NOPEC also partners with Liberty for the natural gas aggregation with Dominion as the supplier.