City of Dayton residents will vote Tuesday on whether to allow electric aggregation. If passed, the ballot issue would allow the city to choose who supplies electricity to Dayton residents—a move the city says will save people money.
All Ohioans can shop around for a supplier, the company running the actual power plant; that’s called electric choice. DP&L is still the electric delivery service for most of the Miami Valley, which means you get your bill from DP&L and call them with service issues and so on. But it’s up to the consumer to choose an electric producer.
Aggregation takes that choice a step further: the city or municipality does your shopping for you, at a discount.
“We would buy in bulk for the community and get a bulk discount,” saidDonna Winchester, a sustainability consultant with the City of Dayton.
Choosing a supplier can be confusing, and with aggregation, says Winchester, "the voters allow the city the right to go out and do all that homework and find a supplier that would be best for the community.”
The city could decide, for example, that a certain percent of the energy has to come from renewable sources.
The City of Dayton says participants in bulk buying could save $200-$300 a year on a home electric bill. But even if aggregation passes, any Dayton resident may opt out of aggregation. However, if you want to stay in, you don’t have to do anything, and the changes will simply be reflected in your bill once the city chooses a supplier.
Electric aggregation is a popular option that’s already passed in hundreds of Ohio municipalities. The issue will be on over thirty other ballots across Ohio Nov. 5, including Xenia.