Consultant outlines options as St. Charles weighs IMEA contract renewal

Energy consultant Sean Kessler gave St. Charles officials a detailed briefing on the city's power-supply choices as the city considers whether to sign a proposed Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA) contract by an August 19 deadline.

Kessler said the decision before the council is whether to accept the IMEA contract as written by the deadline or to pursue an alternative path. "The current decision on the table is whether or not to sign the proposed IMEA power supply contract by the deadline of August 19 as is," he said.

The presentation outlined three practical paths: sign the new IMEA contract that would begin Oct. 1, 2035 and run under the proposed terms; decline and pursue a competitive procurement with third-party power suppliers; or pursue partial or full self-supply or membership in a different joint action agency. Kessler emphasized that, regardless of the council's decision by Aug. 19, IMEA would continue serving the city under the existing contract through September 2035.

Why it matters: IMEA represents a pool of 32 municipal members and owns shares in coal-fired plants that currently supply a large fraction of St. Charles's power. Kessler said retirement of debt service on the agency's coal plants around 2035 should reduce IMEA's cost to members by roughly 25 percent, which he described as roughly "about 4'cents per kilowatt hour," but he…