Under a City-operated program the City would have more flexibility to select a supplier, and the term of the contract and rate. We believe the current market provides an opportunity for the City, as a smaller scale aggregation program, to obtain RECs and have a better chance to meet the City’s goals as an independent aggregation program. The City will have more flexibility to go out into the market to seek RECs, and provide supply with very little overhead and no administrative fees being charged to participants.
Experience with the City’s gas program has found that the City’s gas rate has been below NOPEC’s gas rate about 70 percent of the time over the years. Partly this is due to lower overhead for the City’s program. NOPEC costs — administrative, advertising, legal, and programmatic — are paid for through the rates charged to participants.
The market for green power is growing. There may be opportunities for renewable energy for a smaller aggregation that are not available to an aggregation with a much larger load profile. It is expected that there should be a greater availability of Ohio-based renewable power generation by 2026, with negotiations for those supplies commencing in 2023.
Additionally, with its own program, the City would have the flexibility to design specific features that it and residents value. For example, it could elect to source the power from a supplier that generates the electricity within Ohio. This would retain more of the environmental benefits – such as cleaner air and clean energy jobs – within the state and closer to the City.