Organizers plan to sound off about Naperville electric utility contract   

Organizers plan to sound off on Naperville electric utility contract at Tuesday’s city council meeting
Donate Today

 The Naperville City Council is expected to receive an earful from environmental advocates on the long-term future of the municipality’s electricity provider at Tuesday’s meeting. 

The Say No to Coal consortium is urging residents to sign up and speak during the council’s public comment portion of the meeting agenda. According to a news release from the consortium, the effort is aimed at having residents “voice their concerns regarding a potential extension of the city’s utility contract with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA).”     

Naperville bypasses the traditional method of providing electricity through a private investor-owned utility, instead, it has a system in place to supply it as a local service. Since 2007, the city has been purchasing electricity through the nonprofit IMEA agency at a wholesale price. 

The city’s existing contract with IMEA runs through 2035, and IMEA officials are seeking a 20-year extension, through 2055. IMEA has been asking the city to have a decision on the contract extension rendered by April 30.   

The consortium’s concerns  

According to Say No to Coal’s news release, organizers have indicated they have multiple concerns with the proposed IMEA contract extension. Reasons given include:

  • 80% of IMEA’s energy being sourced from burning coal. The consortium takes aim at this, stating, “Burning coal emits toxins and greenhouse gases.”
  • The contract extension proposal does not include language on pricing.
  • Concerns raised about potential unforeseen regulatory issues and further advancements in technology, infrastructure or the marketplace that the consortium argues could “expose Naperville to unnecessary risks.” 

Six local grassroots groups and organizations comprise Say No to Coal: Accelerate Climate Solutions, First Congregational United Church of Christ Naperville, the Greater Naperville Citizens Climate Lobby, Green Scene North Central College, the League of Women Voters, and the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST). 

A goal of net zero by 2050   

Naperville is one of 32 communities that contribute to IMEA. As a member into the agency, the city is represented on a board of directors that meets every other month in Springfield to discuss such issues as routine protocols and legislative matters.

In a memo distributed last month, Brian Groth, director of Naperville’s electric utility, outlined some of IMEA’s current initiatives, which include the recent adoption of a sustainability plan that sets a goal for net zero electric generation by 2050. 

“Contained in this plan was a roadmap of how the agency aims to achieve its goal, as well as outlining other sustainability initiatives the agency will undertake along the way,” Groth wrote in the memo. “The plan also requires that agency staff report annually on the progress of the plan and hold member stakeholder meetings every three years.”

What’s ahead for Naperville’s electricity plans

None of the action items on the city council’s upcoming Jan. 21 meeting agenda directly relate to IMEA or the proposed contract extension. 

Further discussion could take place next month with the planned release of an anticipated report from Customized Energy Solutions, a Pennsylvania-based consultant that is in the midst of reviewing the city’s options for powering its electric grid in the years ahead.

Independent of the city’s actions on the contract extension, Groth in his memo indicated IMEA’s agency staff are undertaking a number of tangible initiatives with the 2050 net zero goal in mind. 

For instance, Groth indicated IMEA has outlined plans to ramp up additional megawatts of solar generation that are intended to come online in 2026 and 2027. The new efforts, Groth wrote, “will make the agency approximately 20% renewable at that time,” which is a threshold Say No to Coal organizers reference in their list of concerns.

Additional ongoing efforts, Groth said, include a feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis on battery storage technology installations in Naperville and other member communities. Also in the works is the design and support of energy conservation programs.

If you have a story idea, we want to hear from you.