The Community Energy Cooperative, a Chicago-based non-profit membership organization, is bringing the Energy-Smart Pricing Plan (ESPP) to reality and expanding the number of benefits to its members. ESPP is the first program in the nation that gives residential electricity customers access to market-based electricity prices. Showcasing State Senator Steve Rauschenberger’s enrollment in the plan, Community Energy Cooperative staff and the Senator will be speaking about why ESPP is important, how it impacts energy deregulation on a national and local level, and what the economic value to the consumers may be.
Who:
State Senator Steve Rauschenberger
Rich Hirschberg – Elgin Director, Community Energy Cooperative
Larry Kotewa – Staff Engineer, Community Energy Cooperative
What:
Benefits of the “Energy-Smart Pricing Plan”
When:
Jan. 31, 2003, 2 pm
Where:
Elgin Community Energy Cooperative Office
Fire Barn #3
820 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
Response:
847-741-7810 (office)
email: rhirschberg@cnt.org
This is the first program of its kind in the nation and the first time consumers in Illinois can access market-based electricity pricing. ESPP will provide participating residential customers with a groundbreaking alternative electricity rate, which can save them about 10% annually on electricity bills. The Cooperative will provide all program participants with tools and information that will help them manage their electricity use so they can save money on their energy bills.
These tools and information include:
- Day-ahead price information
- Projected price patterns
- Special alerts when energy prices are high
- Some participants will also receive new programmable thermostats
The Cooperative is targeting areas where most of its 7,000 members reside: Pilsen, Little Village, Austin, Elgin, Park Forest, Evanston, and several far northwest side communities of Chicago. However, anyone who is a NEW or existing member of the Cooperative can apply for ESPP.
Space is limited: only 1,500 households will be able to participate in the program in 2003, the first year of a three-year pilot.
The Community Energy Cooperative is a non-profit membership organization helping consumers and communities obtain the information and services they need to control energy costs, reduce energy use, and benefit from opportunities provided by the changing energy marketplace. The Cooperative promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, provides technical services, manages appliance trade-in programs, and provides energy information to its members. Founded in 2000, the Cooperative has focused its programs in several targeted communities in Chicago and the surrounding area and currently has more than 7,000 individual and small business members. The Cooperative is supported by ComEd and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.
