XENIA — Amy Huffman, a program manager with Palmer Energy, recently spoke to the Greene County Board of Commissioners about Ohio’s Natural Gas Aggregation Program, the Interstate Gas Supply LLC Agreement, and the electric aggregation program.
The board approved a master agreement, with Interstate Gas Supply, LLC, to provide competitive retail natural gas service to Greene County, a governmental aggregator, and authorized the county administrator to sign. The agreement will be for a term of 24 months.
“We’re consultants for electric and gas and the consultant for the County Commissioners Association of Ohio Energy program and the Ohio Municipal League. The program works with cities and villages — it’s an identical program for both,” Hoffman said about Palmer Energy, a Toledo-based company.
According to Hoffman, Ohio law allows for communities — such as townships, cities, villages, and counties — to form aggregated buying groups to purchase natural gas supplies on behalf of their citizens. By bringing citizens together, the aggregation gains group buying power and typically can negotiate a better price with the supplier than each aggregation group member could have negotiated individually. The governmental aggregator chooses the natural gas supplier for all of the customer/members in its group.
Hoffman added that local communities may have the issue of natural gas aggregation on the ballot come election day. By voting for natural gas aggregation, it will allow locally elected officials to purchase a natural gas supply at a discounted rate for the community.
A Natural Gas Aggregation program was approved by voters in November 2022. Records show the villages of Bowersville, Cedarville, and Clifton received voter approval for electric and natural gas aggregation programs. All three villages ceded authority to the county to run both programs. The county’s programs will be for those in the unincorporated areas of the county as well as those three villages.
“The county’s electric aggregation program will be renewed in May of 2024,” said Hoffman. “A Request for Proposal (RFP) will go out for 12 months of aggregation for those three villages in September, eventually they will be on the same term as the county.”
The natural gas aggregation program will operate like the electric aggregation program with opt-out letters going to eligible customers and no early termination fees. Hoffman added there are approximately 4,900 residential and small commercial businesses eligible for the program. The county will have a 24-month fixed rate of $5.83 per MCF (a conventional natural gas measurement), from November 2023 to October 2025.
Reach Karen Rase at 937-502-4534.
