Pooling together Marysville’s Dayton Power & Light customers might happen one day, but officials don’t believe now is the time.
“It’s not something we’ll ever totally turn our backs to,” said City Manager Terry Emery.
At Tuesday’s Public Service Committee meeting, officials discussed the pros and cons of power service aggregation. Aggregation would mean the city becomes the intermediary between all residents with DP&L, and the company itself. Marysville would negotiate yearly to try to ensure local customers get “industry standard” pricing.
“The thought is maybe we could get a better price,” Emery said.
Ben Vollrath, from DP&L, presented some aggregation statistics to the committee. He said there are about 4,700 customers in the city who would be eligible. Right now, a resident with a standard service offer pays about $3.40 more than the average customer in an aggregated community.
Emery said there’s no guarantee an entity can deliver a better price, however. Aggregation means playing the market, which can prove competitive. Individual residents may want to go to other providers, which they would simply do whether or not the city pools those customers together.
“They can opt out, but it’s just another step in the process that they have to do,” Emery said. “They could have just made their own choice anyway.”
Public Services Director Mike Andrako agreed and said there’s no reason for the city to put another layer on the process.
“That, to me, would not be a good enough deal to take that burden on as a city,” Andrako said. “To me, if you could go out and do it, and you really want it, that’s what you’re going to do.”
Committee member Tracy Richardson agreed, saying there’s no significant benefit for residents at this time. Additionally, the time it could potentially take from city staff might not be worth it.
“We need to measure it and see potentially where there’s merit in aggregation,” Richardson said
Richardson said the city will remain open to it. The time could conceivably come when aggregation could save residents a substantial amount of money. She said when that time comes, they’ll open the discussion back up.
As it stands, $3.40 per month isn’t enough to change the tide.
“It’s not the best opportunity for residents at this time,” she said. “It’s not really looking like something that will benefit our community.”