Savings for Peoria Heights residents

Peoria Heights residents will be getting a one-time $20 credit on their monthly water bill in the coming months as part of the Village’s ongoing effort to soften the landing of the pandemic that hit everybody this past spring.

Residents do not have to do anything to trigger the credit, said Village Administrator Dustin Sutton.

“In a perfect world, I’d love to give the residents more -- $100 – but at this point we have to be fiscally responsible,” said Sutton. “I know it’s minor to some, it’s major to a lot.

“I wanted this to follow the same footprint as the stimulus grant for the business district as far as ease of use,” continued Sutton, adding that he wished to spare residents the red tape that comes with a lot of other credits. “I think it’s a good gesture … We’re in a position with water with a surplus. This is an amount we can afford.”

All told, the total cost to the water department will be $51,200, said Sutton.

Meanwhile, another item that residents and businesses need to be looking for in the mail is an aggregation contract with Good Energy that allows that company to represent them, through an agreement with the Village, to go out and shop for the best price for electricity. The last time the Village did this was in 2016. This time the contract is for 18 months.

Again, if residents agree with allowing Good Energy to use its bulk buying power on their behalf, they need do nothing to make that happen. If they want to opt out, however, they must respond, in which case the default purchaser will be Ameren. Ameren got out of the energy supply business years ago and is an energy distribution company. It buys energy at market price and sells it for that same price with no mark-up. Nonetheless, that price “is absolutely going to be higher,” said Village Attorney Mark Walton.

“You have the potential to save a lot of money by going with an aggregate because they get the lower prices,” concurred Village Trustee Diane Mariscal.