good morning uh and Welcome to our
electoral aggregation public Workshop my
name is Mayor Ben Kessler I'm really
excited to be hosting uh this workshop
and to talk to you all about electrical
aggregation I have some co-presenters
with me here this morning I want to
introduce them to you or maybe have them
introduce themselves so John and Jay for
Mastermind energy if you could real
quickly come up here and introduce
yourselves
hi John thievert ask Mary J cell uh we
are the Consultants that helped out
Bexley become a electric electric
aggregation program that is going to
kick in September
um we've done this for late last year
kind of started since then and um now
here we are now
um but we are here for your resource for
any questions anything like that we have
all of our information that we left here
and of course you guys call same time
which you know to help out any questions
or anything like that so feel free to
call anytime soon thank you thanks guys
thanks and then I want to introduce
Elizabeth ellman who is our
sustainability programs coordinator
hi nice to see you all I sit over there
if you have any questions feel free to
stop by afterwards and I can answer them
or direct you to our website
all right and I also want to recognize
uh council member Monique Lemke who's
joining us Monique welcome thank you for
joining us
um so
what is electrical aggregation we're
going to start simple and then we're
going to get more detailed and then we
have an opportunity for questions and
answers um and we have all of the
expertise here in the room to help
answer those questions
so electrical aggregation is essentially
the ability for a city in Ohio it's an
Ohio process that's uh that's laid out
by the Ohio legislature the whole
Revised Code it's been around for
several decades where a city can bulk
purchase energy either electrical or
natural gas and buy it at a at a at a
potential savings to the community and
then allow the community access to it so
that's in contrast to what is the
standard rate that's provided by in our
in our region AEP or Columbia Gas in
this instance we're not talking about
gas so I don't want to confuse things
we're only talking about AEP
so for example today if you are an AAP
customer
you are going to pay in July around 11.2
cents per kilowatt hour that's the
energy uh metric and based upon your
consumption so the city has the ability
to go to market and negotiate a rate
that is hopefully lower than that and
also we can use aggregation for some
additional considerations
and in this particular instance Bexley
is looking at aggregation as an
opportunity to purchase renewable energy
for the community so our objective in
looking at this and we've been we've
been researching
um and pricing aggregation for at least
three or four years I think and we've
been following the market very closely
throughout that time our our goal was to
both procure renewable energy for the
community but also to save households
money
and so it was kind of a two-prong
and what happened in the past
before I get there let me just give you
a little more background uh Bexley
voters did allow the city to pursue
aggregation back in 2001 so the cities
had authority to do that for over 20
years we've exercised it once we had a
contract with IGS for several years in
the mid first part of the first decade
in the 2000s
um but we have not exercised it since
then
um and then as I said in the past few
years we've been looking at renewable we
were working about three or four years
ago directly with AEP of Ohio
to try to
purchase uh basically sections of
renewable projects throughout Ohio and
to aggregate those into a electrical
product for Bexley
that market shifted radically in the
past several years in Ohio for a variety
of reasons and so uh
we sort of sat tight as Energy prices
were fluctuating pretty wildly and then
earlier this year it became clear that
there might be an opportunity for us to
look back at this again at which point
in time we opened up a competitive
process for Brokers to come to the city
and present options Aspen energy was the
winning bidder of our RFP process around
the spring of this year
so when Aspen energy went to Market a
couple things were happening
AEP had been around this had been
hovering in the high sixes per kilowatt
hour six cents per kilowatt hour
and went to Market and pricing was
becoming pretty clear that they were
going to be up closer to 12 cents
starting in June which did happen so
your June electric bill if you look at
it the rate that you paid per kilowatt
hour was markedly higher than what you
had paid in May
so we knew that the we knew that the AEP
local rates were going way up and we
knew that there was an opportunity for
us to negotiate a better rate for our
community so we asked Aspen energy to go
forward with that there's a lot of
different paperwork that had to be filed
with the state
um and they went to Market and they came
back to us with a rate of
6.86 cents per kilowatt hour which
compares to the current July 11.2 cents
per kilowatt hour the average Bexley
consumer uses a little bit just around a
thousand kilowatt hours per month in
their house so the average household and
your household may use less than that
you may use more than that but the
average household
is due to save uh about forty seven
dollars per month with this new Bexley
rate today
now I I'm going to highlight today
because we don't know what the future
holds so this is the 20-month program
in 20 months the AEP rate could go up
could go down it's going to fluctuate
throughout that period of time what we
do know is that the rate that we've
negotiated is very close to what the
lowest rates have ever been so we're in
pretty good shape relative to what we
would expect the market to be but I'm
going to talk to you guys about some of
those details and what you as a consumer
have the rights to do throughout this
process
if you are an AEP customer today and
about 70 percent of our residents are
normal standard AAP customers then you
will automatically if you do nothing
don't make any phone calls don't ask for
anything to change you will
automatically be opted into this program
and your rates will go down in September
you will see a we'll see a lower rate
per kilowatt hour
I'm throwing a lot of information at you
so I want to throw some more first off
part of your bill is that consumption of
electricity that's that that's the rate
we're talking about the other part of it
is the transmission of the electricity
it's the it's the cost that we pay to
AEP to maintain the power lines the
polls uh to own the infrastructure that
the electricity goes through that won't
change that's going to be the same it's
only the it's only the purchase of
energy piece that changes
um if so if you do nothing and you're a
current AP customer you will be signed
into this program
you can opt out at any time there's not
any time during that 20-month period
that you couldn't call and say
I want to pay more or maybe the Market's
changed and you just don't want to be in
the program for whatever reason or you
can go out and you can buy your own
energy you can go to Apples to Apples
which is a website that Ohio Public
Utilities Commission operates and you
can cross check maybe there's a better
rate that you'd like you can do that at
any time
the other 30 percent of residents have
already signed up for one of those other
rates maybe somebody's come to your door
and and you've signed up for a different
electrical product maybe you've gone on
the website but that's how you would be
the other 30 if you're part of if you're
one of those consumers
then you would have to actively opt into
this program and I will I will warn you
to make sure you cross-check your
contract because some of those contracts
do have early termination fees so there
could be some costs associated with that
but this program is to simplify all of
it it's an opt out at any time program
that was really important to us so
there's not going to be a moment in time
where you as a consumer don't have the
option to get out of the program for
whatever reason
the other
um the other thing to know is that we
have committed
to on our weekly email we send out the
Bexley blast every Friday two at the
bottom of that pexy blast show the
current AEP rate and the rate of this
program so that you'll always be able to
have that as a quick reference you don't
have to like go out and research it on
your own
that information will help you have an
informed decision as a consumer
we would not have moved forward with
this if we didn't believe that it is
highly likely that you will continue to
save money through this period of time
coupled with it achieving the
environmental goals that we had set out
to achieve and so let me talk about that
in one hot second before I get there I'm
going to throw one more piece of
information at you which is that the
letter that you might have received in
the mail if you're an AP Standard
customer you received a letter in the
mail do we have a copy of that letter
here we're gonna go grab it it
references a brown energy price
and there's been a little bit of
confusion over that
um there is a slightly less expensive
rate of six point
five-ish you have it right there
6.545 thank you Dana
um you can go you can also call Dyna G
which is the power provider and you can
ask to be at that even lower rate it's
just a little bit less like you know 0.3
cents lower
and that is conventional energy that we
receive here in Ohio so that's energy
from a combination of natural gas coal
and other types of power but it is not
the renewable energy that we purchased
so there is a little bit more savings
that could be eked out if you'd like to
the way that Council approved this and
passed it was based upon the default
plan being that 100 wind renewable plan
and I'll get to questions in a second
Larry
it's not three cents it's three tenths
of a cent but yes
we're going to calculate that for you
and get you that number as I'm talking
so
I want to talk a little bit more about
uh what it means for this what we talk
about when we talk about wind energy are
we
popping up a wind farm in Bexley know
are we buying energy even from wind in
Ohio no there's actually not enough wind
in Ohio for the market to absorb it it's
a national wind credit and what that
means is there are wind assets
throughout the country that are
producing electricity
we are purchasing the the attributes of
that electricity I'm using a lot of
weird language here but we are basically
we're saying dibs on that electricity
that electricity we are taking up that
slice of the market the actual physical
electrons that are coming into your
house are always going to be the same
soup of electrons that are a combination
of all the different types of energy
that go into the Grid in Ohio that
includes natural gas coal nuclear that
includes solar facilities and wind and
rooftop right now not today it's a
little cloudy on a sunny day in the
winter when we're not using much
electricity we're pumping energy back
into the Bexley grid from the solar at
Bexley City Hall so the physical
electrons are coming from a more local
grid but the the market for energy is a
national Market when AAP gives us the
standard rate they're buying energy not
just their own energy they're buying
energy to uh to provide you with so
um that's confusing but I think because
it's taken us a long time to get our
hands heads wrapped around that but
that's how this product works
we have a chart up here that kind of
gives you a feel for what happens when
100 of our households are pulling wind
energy as opposed to uh standard uh
energy in Ohio with the AEP so it's the
equivalent of taking 4 700 cars off the
road a year
or
not pumping 2.4 million gallons of gas
or using 23 million pounds less of coal
so it's a pretty substantial
environmental impact that's accruing to
the community from this
um
we have a ton of information at our
website and we'll get to any further
clarification uh bexley.org aggregation
there's a very well developed FAQ there
Elizabeth props to you for doing that
you're gonna probably have some
questions this morning that will
contribute to that FAQ we will add to it
we added to it from our last workshop
and so
um it's it's a hearty FAQ I encourage
you to check it out but then the real
purpose of the workshop here is to
answer your questions after you're
providing that info and Jay did you have
something you want to clarify come on up
to the mic if that's cool
yep
so yeah it looks like it's about three
or four dollars more per month to be
green on average so that's about all it
could be like you're saving 40
3 or 44 as opposed to 47. okay
um well sorry backwards you're saving me
51. 51 uh or 50 as opposed to 47.
um now this is the fun part any
questions that we can answer yes ma'am
we're gonna use the microphone sorry
just so that uh we can hear it if I
understood you right then I've gone to
uh Apple Staples before and chosen a
provider so now I have to actually go in
and cancel that one if you have a
current provider if it's still current
yep
um then you would call and if you feel
comfortable canceling that so I assume
you know what the terms of those are
some of them have early cancellation
fees so if you feel comfortable doing
that you would need to call that phone
number on the letter for Dyna G and opt
into this program okay yep and they will
take care of the cancellation piece for
you correct not the fees the process
right it'll switch over uh through that
is there anything that yes okay but I
would really caution I'm sure you
understand the program just make sure
that you're not getting hit with just
well great that's good yes Dana related
question yep so I just recently opted
into one of those programs I don't have
a cancellation fee but it is
significantly less than this one so I do
want to stay with it until the end of
its term how will I opt in to this at a
later date same phone number okay so put
a reminder on your calendar call that
phone number and say I live in Bexley I
would like to participate in the
aggregation program and they'll sign you
up all right I have one other yeah
clerical question and then one okay more
mind-bending question you said Aspen
energy earlier but you keep referring to
dine to G are they the same company
Aspen is the broker oh folks here so
they're representing us they're sort of
our you know they're our agent and Dyna
G is the end supplier of the electricity
okay
so then you talked about removing cars
from the road by using by purchasing
this wind power if Bexley doesn't buy
that wind power
what are are somebody else buying it so
the cars are still being removed from
the road
is or is it sitting like is it not
getting bought is there no it's the
marketplace so someone else will buy
that clean energy one of the reasons
that we we contribute to that is that by
buying that asset and by taking that
slice of energy you're actually creating
more market for it right so it makes
other more new Renewable Energy Products
even more viable
is one we thought about a lot okay our
first attack our first approach and we
I mean I spent a lot of time on this
personally was trying to help develop
new energy clean energy in Ohio
and unfortunately the regulatory
environment has made that harder
recently and so we're not
we're just not in a position to do that
in a way that would provide residents
with competitive pricing we could have
done it but it would have been
of different conversation the one we're
having today okay yep
all right thank you a 20 years ago sorry
one second Elizabeth didn't bring the
mic over just we're uh we are streaming
this so that other people can learn from
the questions 20 years ago I was told if
you're not a utility company you pay
sales tax on these items is that the
case
question for us with dynagey
yeah I don't think there's any
additional sales tax beyond what you
would pay if you're with the utility I
think it's the same
I'm pretty sure the taxes portion is the
same regardless of who you're with if
you're with another supplier or not we
can double check on that and try and get
back to you but
right
well AP actually is a utility the AP
split
there's the AP that is the utility that
that manages the transmission and
there's the AAP that is exactly
analogous to this energy we're buying
and those are two separate entities
legally regulatory
um I have never heard of anything like
what you're discussing through this
whole process so we will double check
that and we'll add that to our website
for you okay but our understanding is
that there this is a apples to Apple
that's why they call it Apples to Apples
it is a true Apples to Apples it is it
is the same as if you were to go on that
puco website select a different provider
you're not you're not in any way shape
or form disadvantaged in doing that as a
consumer
yep
yes ma'am
Kathy and Jerry Weisberg um so you made
mention of
um that in 2001 the city allows you to
do aggregation yes
on the buzz a lot of people are really
upset with opting that that you're
automatically in unless you opt out
um so did that allowing aggregation
allow you
the for the the opt-in making us opt out
and being automatically opting yeah and
and let me explain a couple pieces to
that so the opt-in versus opt out we
could have gone to Market with an opt-in
based pricing and we would have received
less advantageous pricing and the reason
for that is there's
very little
motivation then to price it
competitively because there's a lot less
likelihood people are just were
creatures of habit I've known I'm
embarrassed to admit this publicly I've
known for decades that I could go to
Apples to Apples and save money and I've
never done it myself as a consumer so
like shame on me right well I've just
it's life is busy so the op the the
likelihood that some people are going to
call an opt-in is low
if we had not had such a marked savings
to Residents we might have had we would
have had a more rigorous conversation
about that but for Council and it is a
council process this was public it was
in the blast might not have Frozen
people's radar but this was a process
over many years with Council and then
Council passed it more recently with
Council the decision
Matrix was a little bit like well if
this is such a substantial savings which
it is
um why would we not want all of our
residents to have immediate access to
that and much more likelihood that they
would be able to enjoy that so we see it
as a huge benefit to Residents I think
where there's been angst on some of
those forums is where there's a
misunderstanding and it's confusing
issues so it's not I get it you know
we're trying very hard to make sure that
there are really good clear sources of
information but if there's confusion
that there's I've read a comment or
heard of a comment I guess that there's
going to be a triple increase in costs
and if that's what you thought then I
would understand that but knowing that
it's a savings we felt comfortable with
that opt-in process and knowing that it
would it's like a catch-22 right that
will just by nature of the program
result in better pricing
at the end of the 20 months are you
gonna renegotiate
well again we don't know that so at the
end of the 20 months as we're going to
keep a very close eye on the market
if at 20 months we're in the situation
we were two years ago where the
electrical market is just fluctuating
wildly
um then we probably would not we would
probably just say it's going to become
the standard rate again with AEP
if we're back continuing to be in a
situation where there's a good advantage
to the community and we're able to get
those renewable assets at a price that
makes sense then we'll continue to
monitor it
so I can't commit either way it should
perform and
who knows who's gonna be on Council 20
months from now so and then you made
mention to if you have another supplier
currently and you want to opt in Within
These 20 months it doesn't cost us
anything to opt
in it does not cost you anything to opt
in as long as you're not paying a
termination agree on your current
contract yeah but no there's no cost to
you to to join the program in the
program itself okay correct
well okay we'll get to you in a second
yeah if um
if we decide if we are using quite a bit
of kilowatts per hour are we going to be
limited to how many we receive at this
rate no okay it's a great question
though and will our billing be through
the city or AEP or both or and Bill so
your your the bill you received from AEP
uh doesn't you'll still get billed from
AP any sort of auto payment will still
apply you'll see
at the bottom of your bill where you see
the rate that you pay it will list the
city's aggregation program whereas
currently it lists AEP as your provider
that's the only difference
a couple I'm going to caveat that I
understand that there might be a
difference for people who are on a
current budget so if you said I
I would like
200 a month taken out based upon my
average consumption
you do need to set that up with Dyna gim
told that will not automatically roll
over
and that's that was new information to
us earlier this week so we're trying to
get the word out of that another piece
of information to piggyback I don't know
if any of you own solar panels
but
a lot of aggregation pro programs if you
own solar you can't take advantage of
this this one you can so any of your
extra energy you're using you you can
get it at this rate and you will with
solar which is awesome yes so I use an
alternate supplier now okay um so on
your team I need to opt in correct um I
don't think I got the letter so is can I
pick a copy up here yes we'll get you
copy and that's why you didn't get the
letter yep
um
so they build a or they Supply AEP AEP
presents a bill to me that I get
electronically
but they forward it on to a third party
that's already buying these win credit
things
and I pay the bill to them that company
is Arcadia for whatever's worth who
turns around and that settles my bill is
that payment flow going to remain the
same if I opt in
come on yeah that's that's interesting
so typically the billing is done right
right on the AEP Ohio bill so you would
have the supplier charges on the AEP
bill it'd be a portion of that you pay
AEP and then AEP and the supplier would
then true up behind the scenes
oh you pay the supplier directly okay
so moving forward if you go into the
aggregation program you'll just Pay AEP
it's just one bill to one combined bill
okay but you pay them
yeah I understand I understand what
you're saying so yeah it'll just be
straight through AEP Ohio you'll pay the
supplier charges as a portion of that
and then they true up with the AEP
behind the scenes so that's how that'll
work going forward
AEP yeah
correct yeah you need to terminate that
that so yeah
what's that
uh you'll want to contact Arcadia
anyways just to check on early
termination fees
um I would recommend always checking
that just to make sure there's no fees
and then you call Dyna G to enroll and
then you'll just get one bill from AEP
foreign
what happens if the wind doesn't blow
where these Farms are
that's part of the pricing model so they
build that into their pricing model is
their so they'll have to buy brown
energy to make it up
to pass it on to us so we're purchasing
we're purchasing the kilowatts that are
produced by the land
and the grid itself is balanced make
sense
we're buying the wind in kilowatts the
whole grid is balanced that's part of
the grid calculation right but the
current grid does rely on a mixture of
all sorts of sources to function
right but if you've got a uh
mirror on your roof you can sell your
excess back to the grid but you're
selling at a wholesale price you're not
getting retail for it that's true but
that's not this energy is being
purchased by the wind farm from the wind
farm
I'm not sure if it seems like
what's the
if the wind isn't blowing and they don't
put enough energy in I mean you don't
store this it goes into the grid right
if they don't produce enough energy
where do they get it let's say a tornado
takes all their
all their fans now although although
well I think
so so when you buy when you're buying
wind from a provider like this you're
buying an asset from a much much much
larger Source than what we're what we're
using right so it's well it's well
provisioned
but I think that the bigger the bigger
piece the puzzle the really important
question that you're asking is is the
same thing with solar if we just bought
all solar what about at night time
what's happening then
we're buying the amount of solar that we
would consume if we're running all the
time but the overall grid is balanced
with a variety of sources there's
nuclear hydroelectric all sorts of
different sources that are balancing
that grid to allow it to function how
much of their production is spoken for
all of our consumption so 100 all of
ours how many other people do I have on
this how many businesses
they can only sell as much as they
produce
they can't physically sell more than
they produce so I don't I don't really
know I assume that as with other
products we're talking about a huge
portfolio with Dyna G it's not just like
any one given project it's a portfolio
of projects
yeah
so it's a it's a combination of projects
throughout the country
yeah
so another
um comment and this could be in the feqs
already but so if you guys are from
Aspen but not from dinergy
people are calling dynagey and meeting
with um inexperienced
reception on the other end so okay
how do we
combat that so our cars are right up
here feel free
to call us directly we've got a stack of
cards up here for both John and I we're
happy to take calls so we can walk you
guys through any questions that you have
go over bills it is on the website and
all of that so yeah we're happy to do
that it's part part of our job so feel
free to call us anytime there's
questions
and I can understand how that could
happen so
this so basically why is this half the
price of AEP I would have thought that
green energy would have been more than
an AEP price are you just better
negotiators or AEP a worse negotiator I
mean why why is it half price in a
nutshell so that's a great question
um reason is just timing
um how the AEP does their auctions they
don't Supply the generation right they
just do the transmission distribution
through their Network okay they have an
annual auction and it's typically done
years out so they'll take a chunk say
three years out they'll buy say 25
percent of their load for four or three
years out they'll do it again A year
later and then a year later
it got pushed back because of the
capacity auctions it's one of the pieces
one of the components of energy those
auctions got pushed back so the dates on
when they buy energy got pushed back
they had to buy the whole chunk within
about a four month time period and the
market was through the roof just really
bad timing so they were they were stuck
with that rigidity of that schedule to
have to buy on those days at the end and
the market was really high right so so
the AEP rate of 12 cents or whatever
that is that's a 12-month rate then is
that correct yeah it's it's actually
their calendar year their schedule year
goes from June through the following May
right so each year that standard service
offer rate is going to reset it
fluctuates slightly month to month it
does it does it's going to be within
that within that range and that's like
again we had been we've been keeping our
eye on this so we were we saw from the
experts that we were Consulting with
that we were going to have this great
window of time in the market
and there's a little
not to over complicate it but there are
some advantages when we price just for
our community because our consumption is
a little different than the entire AEP
grid they have to price in lots of
different factors that ours is just can
simplify it and we have the ability to
save money potentially that way
yeah okay so we are only paying for the
energy as far as the grid AP will still
service that correct okay so if we have
an issue we still contact AEP yes okay
and that's that's throughout the state
that's just the state has set it up that
way that they've split the provision of
the electrons with the maintenance of
the infrastructure
any other questions
yeah
so I'm here representing my daughter who
just moved to Bexley okay
um welcome thank you
um but I do want to tell you all how
lucky you are uh I live in Maineville
near uh Kings Island we just lost our
aggregation which we had for three years
so they're typically three years
um and they're still trying to negotiate
with the township
so and mayor you're off the hook I did
choose a supplier in 2005 and then all
the rates went down and I was stuck so
you know sometimes it you know the grass
looks Greener but I have to tell you
that I'm very excited because she moved
to Bexley and her rent jumped 200 to get
over here
but I think that having a lower electric
bill she was by Easton yeah um but um
that's a that's a huge savings and my
question is is abp's delivery rate on
your service the same delivery rate as
it is on AEP yeah that's that's the
rules
of these programs is the delivery
doesn't change
any other aggregation questions
all right thank you so much for coming
out this morning we'll we'll chat a
little bit here longer if you want to
and uh I really appreciate your
participation thank you