Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utility Aggregation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pepper Pike council schedules hearings on ordinance letting gas aggregation customers rejoin between enrollment cycles
Summary
NOPEC’s Tony Ramos told council the ordinance would let gas‑aggregation customers reenter the municipal program between two‑year gas enrollment windows — aligning gas with electric aggregation practice. Two public hearings are scheduled for Oct. 17; the change will not alter rates or enrollment opt‑out rules.
Tony Ramos, NOPEC’s relationship manager for Pepper Pike, told council the packet before them would make the gas aggregation program operate like the city’s electric aggregation by allowing residents who previously opted out to rejoin outside the regular two‑year enrollment period. “This is really just a procedural thing,” Ramos said, adding the change would not change rates or the program’s opt‑out structure.
Under current practice as described at the meeting, the state‑mandated enrollment period for municipal gas aggregation is every two years; electric aggregation enrolls residents on a three‑year cycle. The ordinance language circulated to council would permit residents who opt out of gas aggregation to come back into the city aggregation in between the biannual enrollments — similar to how electric reentry operates — so long as they are not under contract with a third‑party supplier.
Ramos said NOPEC will conduct two statutorily required public hearings on Oct. 17 (one at noon and another at 5 p.m.) and then report hearing results to council; final action could follow at a subsequent meeting. He emphasized residents would receive targeted mailings (refresh letters) when they become eligible again but said the city would not perform a mass communication beyond statutorily required notices.
Council members asked clarifying questions about consumer choice and whether the change required any regulatory action; Ramos said filing and operational governance steps are done with the Public Utilities Commission or the vendor filing as appropriate but that the proposal was a common, procedural update other communities have adopted.
Council agreed to advance the measures through the required hearings and to consider final adoption after public comment.
