QUINCY — The Quincy City Council’s consultation agreement with SIMEC, LLC, was amended during a meeting Monday night.
SIMEC President Reg Ankrum sent a letter to the city last week outlining how volatile the competitive market in electricity has been over the past three years.
“In our two recent requests for proposals (RFPs), we invited electricity suppliers to work with us as we try to find ways to reduce the risks behind this volatility,” Ankrum wrote. “Collinsville’s Homefield Energy was the only supplier to respond, and we worked with Homefield to eliminate capacity risks. This effort reduced electricity costs for one SIMEC community to 8.3 cents per kilowatt hour.
Ankrum said his proposal would give SIMEC the flexibility to enter the market for pricing at any time rather than the longer timeline required by the current process.
“We use a series of fixed data points to determine when we will enter the market. This typically takes several weeks,” Ankrum wrote. “Homefield has agreed to allow us access to its expertise, data and forecasts in a timely manner to be more nimble in entering the market. Homefield will provide this expertise for 53 months in exchange for providing the electrical assembly program for the City of Quincy during that period.
Ankrum said the proposal would provide an important tool to obtain the best available price at the time the market is offering it.
Ankrum told aldermen he hasn’t seen the types of market volatility seen in the past two years.
Alderman Dave Bauer (D-2nd) questioned whether customers would have to “opt out” of the city’s agreement with the electricity supplier to get the Ameren rate — if it is lower.
“There’s really no other option,” Ankrum explained. “It’s just a tool that we get. We’re going to have to do the same thing we’ve always done, which is bring recommendations back to the city on the contract and get your approvals.”
“We will continue to submit our RFPs, even though we will be signing this agreement with Homefield. We will test it in the next market. Our contract with Quincy expires in October. We are now in the market looking for pricing, and when we have a price point that we think will give us A good price, we will enter the market.
Bauer said he believes the city should discontinue its agreement with SIMEC.
“If people want to participate in it, let them participate in it,” he said. “It should be optional, not optional.”
Ankrum said working with Homefield would allow SIMEC to “deal more rationally in a very volatile market” by working with a company that constantly monitors electricity prices.
“Working with a partner that monitors hourly price changes gives us the ability to know that in two weeks, they might suggest that now is a good time to look at the market in two to three weeks rather than six weeks.” He said.
Instead of dealing with 12-month, 24-month or 36-month contracts, SIMEC recommends shorter-term contracts due to volatility.
Ankrum said he often gets the price at 10 a.m. and a decision must be made by 5 p.m. When the municipal electricity pooling program was created 11 years ago, the city council gave the mayor the authority to sign the contract and then submit it to the municipality. Local council member.
Ankrum said of the “13,000 or 14,000 customers in the city, between 4,000 and 5,000” who have opted out of the rate Constellation is now offering.
“It’s kind of annoying because it’s a lot cheaper,” said Kelly Mays (R-3). “That’s why I think it’s kind of dangerous for the city. It’s one thing to save people money and it’s another thing to make them pay more. That’s kind of what we did.”
“We should also remember all the good years we had when citizens saved money,” Eric Entrup (R-1) said. “That’s the only year it didn’t work out, but there were a lot of years when we were on the right side of it.”
Aldermen approved the proposal by a vote of 13-1, with Power voting no.
In other work, local council members:
- I learned that the May 28 City Council meeting will be held at the Quincy Public Library.
- A special event request from the St. Francis Parish Picnic Committee requesting permission to hold the annual picnic on June 8 has been approved.
- A special event request was approved from Brianna Rivera, the district’s executive director, requesting permission to hold blues concerts in the district on June 14, June 28, July 12, July 26, August 9, and August 23.
- A special event application from Win One LLC requesting permission to hold a Grand Prix karting race June 8-9 at South Park has been approved.
- Fireworks Authority Inc. gave Applying for permission to hold fireworks displays on July 4 and 5 on Quincipe Island, around 9:30 p.m.
- A 30-minute parking zone has been approved for implementation on the north side of Maine, beginning at a point 200 feet east of North Ninth Center and extending eastward 130 feet.
- Approved the implementation of a 20 mph speed limit for all streets in the Lake Ridge and Alexandria Heights subdivisions.
- Four-way parking has been approved at the intersections of South 38th and Newcastle Drive, South 38th and Stonecrest Drive, Willmar Drive and North Willmar.
- Mayor Mike Troup approved the appointments of Gary Sparks to the Quincy Housing Authority Board of Directors and Ronald Dreyer to the Quincy Police Retirement Fund Board of Trustees.
- The previously approved May 13 resolution approving the purchase of 12 sets of fuel equipment for $40,926.24 from AEC Fire Safety & Security, Inc. is amended.
- A payment of $7,599.17 is approved for first access annual subscription renewal. First Arriving is a backup notification system to supplement radio dispatch communications with the ability to integrate with other departmental software such as First Due, Vector Solutions, Vector Check It, and Microsoft 365.
- A lease for second floor studio space at 433 Hampshire has been delegated to Peggy Ballard for a period of one year at a rental rate of $500 per month.
- An ordinance was approved granting a special use permit for the golf pro shop at 830 South 36th Street that includes retail sales, a commercial kitchen, a bar/tavern and video gaming stations and obtaining a liquor license to permit the sale of alcohol and the operation of video gaming stations.
- An ordinance was approved to add an area on Ellington Road for the $40 million United Alloy facility to the Quincy Adams Brown County Enterprise District and amend the intergovernmental agreement.
