Lake Forest, Lake Bluff Approve Electrical Aggregation

Lake Forest and Lake Bluff voters each approved electrical aggregation referendums in Tuesday night's primary, giving their local governments the power to seek bids for electricity on the open market rather than continuing to buy power from Commonwealth Edison.

• See related story: Election Day Primer: Electrical Choice Referendum

Lake Forest voted yes by a 77.64 percent margin to 23.46 percent, while Lake Bluff endorsed it by a 74 percent to 25 percent. The two communities along with Northbrook, Deerfield, Glencoe, Highland Park, Park Ridge and Skokie .

Passed into law in 2009, allows villages to pool residential and small business accounts, combine forces with other municipalities and seek bids from alternate electric providers to ComEd in order to negotiate a better rate.

Ecven with the yes vote, residents in both Lake Forest and Lake Bluff can choose to opt put of the consortium if they wish.

Since the law was passed, at least 19 Illinois communities have entered into agreements with alternative electric suppliers, which require a community vote by referendum. Several hundred more are considering a vote this year. 

The villages of Grayslake, Oak Brook and Lincolnwood, for example, have already gone out to bid as a group, and were able to save their residents and business owners more than 25 percent on the supply cost of their electric rate, according to Oak Brook village manager David Niemeyer.

 

LAKE FOREST/LAKE BLUFF - ELECTRICAL AGGREGATION (22/22 precincts reporting) 

Referendum Yes Votes/Percent
No Votes/Percent
Lake Forest
3,221/74.03%
1130/25.97%
Lake Bluff
1,219/77.64%
351/23.36%