NEWS
NOPEC Annual Report 2008 (PDF)
February 17, 2010
NOPEC to Provide Nearly $16 Million in Energy Grants to Qualified N.E. Ohio Communities
December 2, 2009
FirstEnergy Solutions and NOPEC Enter into Nine-Year Agreement
June 10, 2009
Electric Rate Savings on the Way for Nopec Customers in Northeast Ohio
April 6, 2009
NOPEC Formalizes Green Deal That Could Save Northeast Ohio Tens of Millions In Electric Costs
February 27, 2009
Northeast Ohio Could Realize Savings in June
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NOPEC Locks in Lower Natural Gas Prices for Northeast Ohio
NOPEC Signs Letter of Intent with a National Supplier to Provide Electricity to Northeast Ohio
Agreement expected to result in meaningful cost savings to NOPEC customers
September 10, 2008, Cleveland - The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) Board of Directors announced today it has approved a letter of intent with FPL Energy, the nation's leading generator of wind and solar power, to supply electricity to the 126 NOPEC-member communities in northeast Ohio over a three-year period beginning in 2009.
Under the proposed transaction, FPL Energy will, through its power marketing and competitive retail subsidiaries, provide power that based on current energy prices, could result in substantial cost savings for 600,000 electric consumers in nine counties in northeast Ohio.
NOPEC is the nation's largest government aggregator and recently sought bids from energy suppliers in Ohio and across the country. NOPEC determined that FPL Energy's proposal best met the needs of NOPEC customers. Bids were sought because NOPEC's post-deregulation discount agreement with Akron-based FirstEnergy expires at the end of the year. Leigh Herington, Executive Director of NOPEC, said NOPEC now saves its customers five percent off the generation portion of bills as compared to the primary local competitor. NOPEC intends to match or exceed that cost savings in the agreement with FPL Energy, he said.
FPL Energy is a leading competitive energy supplier with power generation facilities in 25 states and Canada and wholesale and retail electric customers throughout the Northeast and Texas. The company has announced significant growth plans to bring new sources of wind and solar power to customers across the U.S. and is currently investigating the possibility of developing, constructing, owning and operating wind energy projects in Ohio. FPL Energy is a subsidiary of FPL Group (NYSE: FPL), one of the nation's largest providers of electricity-related services. FPL Group is also the parent of Florida Power & Light Company, the largest electric utility in Florida. "Details and approvals are pending, but this developing relationship has tremendous potential to keep the local energy market competitive and to give residents and businesses some relief from high energy costs," Herington said. "FPL Energy is a proven and reliable energy supplier. This agreement is a testament to large-scale governmental aggregation and the bargaining power our members have by buying power for a large group."
PUCO to play role in finalizing agreement and ensuring cost savings
NOPEC has intervened in proceedings before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) regarding FirstEnergy's application for authority to establish an electric security plan that would establish future electric rates for a three-year period. On behalf of its consumers, NOPEC will ask the PUCO and First Energy to maintain FirstEnergy's current electric rates until FPL Energy starts supplying the load. Earlier this year, NOPEC worked closely with the Northwest Ohio Aggregation Coalition (NOAC) and the members of the Ohio Legislature to help residential and small business consumers continue to receive cost savings through governmental aggregation.
Senate Bill 221 recognized the importance of governmental aggregation and directs the PUCO to adopt rules that "encourage and promote large-scale governmental aggregation." The new law provided that residential and small business customers served by a large-scale governmental aggregator do not have to pay surcharges that do not result in benefit to these customers and do not have to pay standby generation charges. This law also directed the PUCO to consider the effect on large-scale governmental aggregations of any non-bypassable generation charge when approving an electric security plan.
According to NOPEC Chairman Joseph Migliorini, 'We were very pleased for the residents of Northeast Ohio that the Legislature and the Governor recognized the importance of the continuation of Governmental Aggregation, but the 'devil's in the details' and our ability to complete this contract and provide future savings will depend upon the PUCO's interpretation of SB221 in a manner that preserves access to competitive electricity supply options for governmental aggregations."
NOPEC, which formed in 2000, was the result of SB3 in 1999 and the work of numerous public officials in the 126 communities in northeast Ohio and nine counties, including Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina Portage, Summit, and Trumbull, that determined that a large-scale energy buyer could successfully and efficiently buy power in bulk and work aggressively to acquire low-priced, reliably delivered energy for its members. www.nopecinfo.org
