The Naperville City Council is moving forward with energy consultant services that it previously rejected more than six months ago.
At its meeting this week, council members voted 6-3 to award a $74,950 contract to Customized Energy Solutions. The one-year agreement calls for the Philadelphia-based consultant to provide the city options for how it goes about powering its electric grid in years to come.
Over the past year, Naperville has started to explore what its electric supply will look like after 2035, when the contract with its current provider — the coal-heavy Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA) — is set to expire.
As part of that process, city staff in June requested the council bring in consultants to help chart a path forward. The request was rejected by council because of concerns over the necessity.
A key qualm for some council members at the time was that it was too early to broach the subject. Members worried that pressure from IMEA — which has requested that the city decide by next spring whether it will extend its contract past 2035 — was unnecessarily speeding up the council’s window to make informed decisions.
However, Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor brought the matter back for council to revisit in September. She said that in the months since consultant work was denied, she had come to understand the services were needed regardless of a potential IMEA contract renewal on the horizon.
Ultimately, staff was directed to reissue a request for proposals for energy management consulting services.
The city received proposals from three vendors: Customized Energy Solutions, Maryland-based EFW Inc. and Georgia-based EnerVision Inc.
A selection team composed of staff from Naperville’s electric utility, finance department and city manager’s office evaluated and rated the proposals. Customized Energy Solutions received the highest rating by far, scoring 90.2 to second qualifier EFW’s 60.9.
Specifically, the contract tasks Customized Energy with laying out alternatives to IMEA and how they measure up to what the agency currently offers the city. The consultant also will evaluate the cost, benefit and risk of each option it provides.
Staff anticipates Customized Energy will complete the project by March 1, 2025. Contract terms, though, run through the end of next year to allow for follow-up discussions once the consultant’s report is submitted, staff said.
Although approved, the proposal again incited some pushback Tuesday from council members.
“I do agree that we do need a consultant to look at this … I am still worried about the timing,” said Councilwoman Allison Longenbaugh, who joined members Ian Holzhauer and Patrick Kelly in voting against awarding the contract.
“We’re still 11 years away from the contract expiration … it just seems too early to me,” Kelly echoed.
Taylor said she recognized the “fear of not wanting to feel like IMEA is pressuring us to do anything” but added that on the flip side, exploring “how we’re procuring energy and who we’re procuring it from takes a significant amount of years.”
She also said that if the city wants to step away from IMEA, “this is kind of the first step in having to do so because we’ll have to plan for that.”
Regarding early renewal with IMEA, Mayor Scott Wehrli asked Electric Utility Director Brian Groth whether approving the contract with Customized Energy Solutions would tie the city to any sort of spring 2025 vote on extending with its current provider.
It would not, according to Groth.
“It is simply to understand our options and the timelines and the risks,” he said.
In a call Thursday, Groth added that the timeline for Customized Energy Solutions’ project is separate from any potential contract decisions with IMEA.
“I think it’s a separate issue because the IMEA contract is one option that the city has and it’s one that we know of, but we don’t know what the other options are. … We don’t want to elminate any options that we have and that’s why we’re doing this right now,” he said.
Looking forward to what information and insight Customize Energy returns to the city with, Groth said, “It will be nice to have a third party weigh in on … what options the city has as we procure energy and necessary services beyond 2035.”