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Background
Long-Term Rate Stabilization
About the IMEA
Environmental Care
Renewable Success
Background
On June 1, 2011, the City of Naperville began purchasing electric power for its municipal electric utility with the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA), a not-for-profit joint action agency comprised of 32 municipal electric systems that work together to provide power supply and other related utility services for themselves. Membership in the IMEA will enable the city's electric customers to reap the benefits of ownership in electrical generation facilities that will provide rate stabilization to 2035 and beyond.
Since the de-regulation of electricity in Illinois that occurred in 1997, municipalities have been facing market volatility. Naperville's membership in the IMEA will allow the agency to further diversify its significant portfolio of energy producing assets and provide additional insulation from market volatility for all members.
Naperville’s contract with the IMEA runs through September 30, 2035. Long-term membership in the IMEA allows the City the advantages of economies of scale provided by a larger buying group and to stabilize electric rates for a longer time frame.
Long-Term Electric Rate Stabilization
A membership within the IMEA allows the City of Naperville to take advantage of the economies of scale provided by this large buying group and to stabilize electric rates to its residents and businesses for years to come. This approach to providing rate stabilization capitalizes on a diverse power supply portfolio, which combines owned assets and long-term cost-based contracts and an appropriate fuel mixture. Part of this mix is a long-term cost-based (28 year) firm energy contract with Ameren, a down state investor owned suppplier. This supplier draws on 13 coal units and 15 natural gas units among its 5,600 total Megawatts of installed capacity.
The City of Naperville also benefits from the IMEA's distinguished energy portfolio and allowing the city to provide residents and businesses with the best cost-effective source for its electricity.
Naperville electric customers are experiencing first hand the volatility of today's energy market as the city increases its rates for the first time in 20 years. However, the cost for using electricity in Naperville will remain lower than ComEd and considerably more favorable than most national markets.
About the IMEA
Established in 1984, the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency is a joint action agency; a group of municipal electric systems that works together to provide power supply and other related utility services for themselves.
The Agency has assembled a power supply based upon a long-term, diverse mixture of generating types and fuel sources, including some hydro-electric generation, to reliably meet its members' future power and energy requirements at the lowest cost. IMEA's diversified power supply includes contracts with major power suppliers, the use of power generation owned and operated by its municipal members and power generating units owned and operated directly by the Agency itself.
In addition, the IMEA has adopted a policy to encourage the use of wind generation by its members. The IMEA Community Based Wind Energy Program (CBWEP) allows interested members to build wind generators connected to their systems. Under this policy, IMEA purchases all of the net electrical output of the qualifying member's generator. The CBWEP in turn assures the member of an annual revenue stream based on actual production, and supports social and economic development through the "green power" resource installed in the community.
Environmental Care
The IMEA is expected to become a member of new the Prairie State Energy Campus, which means that a portion of the agency's energy will come from this facility. The Energy Campus is leading a new era of coal-fueled generation through its commitment to protect the environment and will allow the utilization of Illinois coal to provide low-cost electricity to over 1.5 million families and businesses throughout the Midwest.
Prairie State is investing more than a half billion dollars in pollution control technologies to create one of the cleanest coal-fueled plants in America and the cleanest coal-fueled plant in Illinois.
An August 2006 decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board affirmed that Prairie State is designed to achieve all state and federal regulations to protect the environment and public health, representing a model for next generation electricity from coal.
The plant's emissions will be about one-fifth the U.S. average and will meet the 2015 emission standards. Prairie State represents a major step toward the ultimate goal of near-zero emissions from coal generating plants.
The Prairie State Energy Campus will rank #1 in minimizing emissions versus all existing plants in Illinois. The Energy Campus will be 15% more CO2 efficient than the existing coal fleet in the state and produce only a small fraction of the background mercury that occurs naturally. The Energy Campus will remove at least 80 percent of the plant's mercury emissions through the use of technology.
Renewable Success
In January 2005, Naperville's Renewable Energy Program was initiated with strong support from the City Council.
Naperville residents and businesses are collectively supporting the development of over 16,047,000 kWh of Illinois renewable electricity annually. This is the equivalent of offsetting 14,427 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon reduction is equivalent to planting more than 3,000 acres of fir trees or removing 2,800 cars from the road.
Renewable energy is electricity generated from natural resources that will never be depleted and does not release any harmful pollution into the air. Naperville's Renewable Energy Program is comprised of 99% wind energy and 1% solar energy generated entirely within the State of Illinois.
Within a two year period, Naperville has quickly advanced to one of the U.S. Department of Energy's Top Utility Green Power Programs, with our residents offsetting approximately 9.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
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