HUBER HEIGHTS — Voters in Huber Heights and the city of Union have approved energy-aggregation programs designed to save residents money on their electric and/or natural gas bills.
Voters in Huber Heights approved an aggregation program for natural gas, with 1,762 votes for aggregation and 1,144 votes against aggregation, out of a total of 2,968 votes, according to the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
“The city uses Energy Alliance as our energy consultant,” Huber Heights City Engineer Russ Bergman said. “They will be working for the city to explore the opportunity of starting a gas aggregation program.”
“We won’t know the savings until we go out for prices,” Bergman said. “With natural gas, the default price changes every month.”
Residents will automatically be included in the gas aggregation program, and the program also offers an option for residents to opt-out, if desired.
“Residents can either return the opt out reply form that will be sent to them, call the chosen supplier and opt-out over the phone, or go online to the supplier’s website and enter a 10-digit opt-out code,” Bergman said.
The city of Huber Heights has had an electric aggregation program since 2016.
Voters in the city of Union also approved aggregation programs for both electric and natural gas rates, through the Miami Valley Communications Council (MVCC).
The aggregation programs received 578 votes, with 342 votes against aggregation out of a total of 920 votes.
“All eligible residents and small businesses in the community will be enrolled, and will begin receiving the discounted generation pricing under the program,” a press release issued by the city of Union on Tuesday, April 11 said.
“Residents do not need to do anything to join the program,” the release said. “However, anyone who does not want to participate in the program can easily opt-out by returning a form, which will be mailed to all eligible members.”
“This is for residents and small businesses that have AES and Centerpoint as your utilities,” the release said. “AES will still be responsible for the delivery of electricity to your home or business. They own the wires and poles that deliver power to you; therefore, they will continue to read your meter and restore power after an outage. Centerpoint will still be responsible for the delivery of natural gas supply to your home or business. The utility still maintains the pipeline system that delivers power to you and will continue to read your meter and take care of repairs and gas leaks.”
All results are unofficial until they are certified by the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
