Renewable electricity option for Bay Village residents?

This year, Bay Village City Council will sign a new electric aggregation agreement. What is an electric aggregation? A municipality can negotiate for the purchase of combined electric supply of its residents and small businesses. This benefits the residents of the city, as it is usually a lower price that is negotiated than one single household can obtain on its own.

Ok, I’m sure you are wondering why I am writing about this! Since our electric aggregation agreement is up for renegotiation this year, the Bay Village Green Team feels it is important for the city to offer residents a choice of how their household's electricity is generated within the aggregation. If the city includes a requirement when it goes out to bid that the contract must include both options, each individual household could choose whether they want their power to be 100% renewable or nonrenewable while remaining in the aggregation.

When a household opts for 100% renewable electricity, it does not mean necessarily that that exact household’s electricity is coming from a renewable source; what it does mean is that the renewable electricity company must ensure that they are putting the equivalent of that household’s electric usage onto our grid.

When more households switch to renewable electricity, it means a higher percentage of renewable energy entering our grid, and that means less electricity generated from burning coal. Burning coal for electricity pollutes our air and contributes to climate change.

What does choosing renewable electricity mean for your bill? It means you may pay a small amount more than the coal-burning electricity, but that’s it. Your account and billing will still be serviced by the Illuminating Company, and you will not notice any change to your service. 

What can you do? Please consider contacting the city council member for your ward (can be found at cityofbayvillage.com/240/City-Council) and letting them know it’s important to you that Bay Village offers a renewable electricity option with the aggregation the city chooses.