In May, Lake Zurich announced its residents are the top green energy customers in the state, thanks to a specialty clean energy program available to ratepayers there.
The project kicked off two years ago as a pilot program. It’s up for renewal in August, and village leaders say, based on community support, it will be renewed.
Since 2023, the village has offered residents the opportunity to buy into the Green Choice Program, a local version of a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program.
Community Choice Aggregation programs are available in communities nationwide, and they allow municipalities to buy renewable energy for residents as part of a collective buying co-op deal. The bulk buys lower rates that make them comparable to non-renewable sources.
The program is currently operating in 10 states. In states allowing CCA, local authorities must vote to authorize the program. In the year since the plan debuted in Lake Zurich, Kyle Kordell, management services director for the village, said in the last two years, during the program’s trial run, the participation has pushed Lake Zurich to No. 1 in Illinois and No. 10 in the nation for renewable energy certificate creation.
Kordell said the rates for renewable energy could be a bit more than traditionally sourced power, but not always.
“Looking forward, the ComEd rate is going to be higher than the green rate,” Kordell said. ComEd has planned a price hike for this summer, while the green energy rate is locked in until renewal in August. If any household wants to get in and get slightly cheaper rates, they can call City Hall and opt in anytime, for free. They can opt out whenever they like, too.
However, Kordell said even when the green rate was more expensive, it was marginally so.
“Looking backward, it was slightly more expensive than the ComEd rate,” he said, explaining that for the average four-person household in Lake Zurich paid less than $10 a month for renewable energy.
“They paid $5 to $8 more a month by supporting this program,” he said, adding that’s not a bad bargain. “It can help literally change the world and change the Midwest.”
Taken as a whole village, that adds up. According to a village press release, in the last year, Lake Zurich residents bought 50 million kilowatt-hours per year in green energy, which they say is about the same as taking nearly 8,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road for a year.
Kordell said the renewables come mostly from in-state sources like the wind and solar farms downstate, thus providing jobs to Illinoisans.
“Those are good-paying jobs right here in the Midwest,” he said. “That’s what people talk about and that’s what people want.”
If people want it, it’s not going anywhere. Kordell said he expects the two-year pilot went so well, he expects the August renewal to be the first of many.
“I think it’s here to stay,” he said. “It’s been embraced by the community and I think we’ll keep it around.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.