Trumbull County signs master participation agreement with CCAO energy program for county facilities

Trumbull County commissioners authorized the chairman (and vice chair if needed) to sign a master participation agreement with the County Commissioners Association of Ohio’s energy program, managed by Palmer Energy, to pursue competitive electric supply for county buildings.

The vote followed a presentation by representatives of Palmer Energy, including Mark Palmer, identified in the meeting as president of Palmer Energy Company, who described the CCAO aggregation and facilities purchasing program that pools counties to secure bulk electric and natural gas contracts. Palmer said the program aggregates large volumes — explaining its recent request-for-proposal covered hundreds of millions of kilowatt hours — and argued that larger pools attract stronger bids from suppliers.

Commissioners and county staff pressed for specifics before fully committing to any supplier. Commissioners repeatedly asked Palmer Energy to obtain billing data and give the county a price comparison, and Palmer Energy representatives said they require a signed letter of authorization from the county to access utility billing profiles. County staff agreed to provide a facility list and the authorization so the vendor could retrieve consumption and demand data and return pricing. Commissioner remarks emphasized the timing pressure: capacity charges and market shifts mean rates can change quickly in the coming months.

The board made the authorization specific: the county will sign the CCAO master participation agreement for electric facilities (exhibit B of the agreement) and authorize the chairman — or the vice chair if the chairman is unavailable — to sign necessary documentation and letters of authorization to allow Palmer Energy/CCAO to access billing data and pursue pricing for county buildings. The motion was moved and seconded and carried on a recorded vote: Commissioners Malloy, Bernard and Sandez voted in favor.

Why it matters: county officials said electric costs for some county operations (notably the jail and other continuous-duty facilities) have risen and are subject to rapidly changing regional capacity charges. The commissioners told staff they want pricing and vendor comparisons as soon as possible and said they view the CCAO program as a potentially lower-cost, lower-administrative-burden option because of its large pooled buying power.

Next steps and conditions: Commissioners directed staff to give Palmer Energy a complete list of county meters and to sign the authorization so the vendor can pull eligibility files and run load profiles. The board also agreed to treat the facilities enrollment as distinct from any future residential aggregation program; signing the facilities exhibit would not automatically enroll residents in an opt-out aggregation.

Quotes

"The program benefits small counties, medium sized counties, large counties," Mark Palmer told the board, describing why suppliers respond to large pooled RFPs.

"If you give us the documentation signed and understand that... we can get after and get pricing going," Palmer Energy staff said when invited to pursue the county's load data.

Ending

The commissioners instructed staff to provide meter and billing lists and to expedite a signed letter of authorization so Palmer Energy can begin seeking facility-level electric pricing. The board said it expects pricing returns quickly because market capacity charges may increase in the coming weeks.