Du Quoin, Pinckneyville Put Electric Choice on the March Primary Ballot
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[City councils in Du Quoin and Pinckneyville Tuesday night voted to put a referendum on the March 20, 2012 primary ballot in the two towns that could potentially capture a 20 percent electric bill savings for residents.
Nick Hill, former Du Quoin and SIU athlete now working as a representative for energy broker Select Energy, attended both council meetings Monday. He asked the councils to consider referenda that would allow--not require--each town to bundle all of its residents under what he described as an "aggregation" of electric energy contracts.
Residents who have already switched from Ameren to an independent provider would not be affected. Residents who do not want to change can sign a letter opting out of the community contracts and stay with Ameren. If the referendum passes and you personally elect to stay with Ameren, you would have to continue with Ameren for another 12 months before being allowed to change.
Du Quoin city council members Yvonne Spencer and Kathy West wanted it made clear that voter approval of the referendum doesn't require the city to enter into a contract with an electric reseller like Direct Energy (one of eight electric companies that Select Energy represents). It would simply allow the council to do so if the council deems it beneficial to local Ameren customers. The City of Du Quoin changed its municipal service to Direct Energy two years ago and has seen a savings.
The only thing that would be negotiated would be a lower "per kilowatt hour" rate for the power itself. You would still get your bill from Ameren. Ameren will continue to maintain its power grid, utility poles, transformers, sub-stations and electric meters in each of the communities.
In the event of storm damage and isolated power outages, Ameren will continue to respond to any and all power outage emergencies.
Hill said two public informational hearings would be held before the March referendum to fully explain the program before ballots are cast. Hill was in the company of his father, former Du Quoin finance commissioner Cha Hill and said the handful of answered questions the council had would be fully answered long before the referendum goes to voters on March 20.
After the discussions, both councils voted to place the question on the ballot. Perry County Clerk Kevin Kern will be in charge of getting the non-partisan referenda into the hands of voters within the corporate bounds of each community.