Aurora East USD 131 secures multi-year energy contracts after competitive reverse auction

The Aurora East USD 131 board on April 7 received a report on the results of the district’s reverse energy auctions, which the district ran to secure multi-year electricity and natural-gas contracts.

Becky Thompson, introduced to the board as a guest from "Nenea," told trustees that the live auctions on March 19 produced unusually high participation. “We got just shy of 240 bids from 12 different unique, prequalified suppliers over the course of 31 minutes,” Thompson said, adding that the natural-gas auction also produced “over 100 bids” from multiple suppliers despite a volatile market.

The district selected a three-year term for electricity and a five-year term for natural gas. Thompson reported the gas term at about $0.48 per therm as the contract rate the district selected. Thompson described the auction process as an insurance policy against large operating-cost spikes and said the longer-term purchases are intended to provide price security for the business office.

Thompson noted the auctions occurred amid international market volatility and that even with short-term intraday shifts the auction results were competitive compared with prequalification rates. She pointed trustees to the auction platform and the board packet for the detailed bid data.

Next steps: the district’s business office will finalize contract documentation and manage implementation under the selected terms; the board packet contains the bid details and the district’s recommended award information for public review.