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Freeport council moves to seek alternatives after Nordic says it cannot honor signed electricity price
Summary
Council voted to put a resolution on the next meeting agenda asking to be released from Nordic’s replacement offer after Nordic notified the city it could not adhere to the contract price because capacity auction results sharply increased costs.
The Freeport City Council voted to send a resolution to its next regularly scheduled meeting asking the city attorney and staff to pursue release from a replacement offer from Nordic Energy and to evaluate alternative electricity suppliers.
Mike Mudge of Rock River Energy told the council that Nordic, the city’s contracted supplier, and three other governmental customers were notified after a capacity auction that the auction results caused a substantial increase in capacity costs and that Nordic could not adhere to the previously signed three‑year price. “They could not adhere to those price increases,” Mudge said, describing the capacity auction results as having come back “tenfold” and adding that the change effectively raised supplier costs by about three cents per kilowatt‑hour.
The memo Mudge referenced asks the council to approve language for the next meeting that would decline Nordic’s replacement offer and allow Freeport to exit the contract so the city can pursue alternatives, including returning customers to ComEd service or pursuing a price‑guarantee offer from another supplier (MC Squared) that would cap the supplier price at ComEd’s rate for the coming period.
Council members asked whether individual customers who had signed with Nordic would also be affected; Mudge responded that opting out would impact enrolled residents as well. Alderman Sanders raised concerns about the information provided to the council and requested a written copy of the communication Mudge said he had sent to city staff.
Council members made and seconded motions to put the resolution on the full council agenda and to direct staff to develop a contingency plan; after a roll call the clerk announced, “The motion passes, 6 to 1 with 1 abstention.” The item will return for formal action at the council’s next regular meeting.
Outcome: the council did not adopt a final contractual change at the March meeting but authorized a resolution to be placed on the next council agenda to decline Nordic’s replacement offer and direct staff to investigate alternatives.
Why it matters: Switching retail electric suppliers affects municipal load aggregation, rate certainty for residents and city bills, and—if customers are moved involuntarily—individual household accounts.
