Residents in the unincorporated areas of Washington County will be able to vote on the May 2 primary election ballot to authorize the county to enter into service agreements for electric and natural gas aggregation programs.

Aggregation is a way to purchase services as a group, rather than as individuals. The combined buying power means the service can be purchased at a better price than individual users could get.

Although the May 2 election is a Republican primary as far as candidates are concerned, a non-Republican registered voter can vote an “issues only” ballot if they wish to do so, without it affecting their party affiliation. Under Ohio law, aggregation programs must be placed on the ballot and passed by a majority of voters before they can be established.

There are separate ballot questions for natural gas aggregation and electric aggregation. The only difference between the two is the substitution of terms referring to natural gas or electric service.

The question: “Shall the County of Washington have the authority to aggregate the retail electric loads/natural gas loads located in the County of Washington, and for that purpose, enter into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sale and purchase of electricity/natural gas, such aggregation to occur automatically except where any person elects to opt out?”

The aggregation programs would apply to residences and small businesses that are with AEP for electric and Columbia Gas for natural gas. Small business usage is defined as fewer than 700,000 kilowatt hours of electricity or 500,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Residents with Washington Rural Electric are not eligible and will continue to be served by Washington Rural Electric.

If a specific aggregate program is approved by a majority of voters, the Washington County Commission will hold two public hearings to explain the program and answer questions. A supplier will be chosen from those who bid on the program and the county and supplier will sign a contract.

An eligible resident or small business is automatically included in the program then, and will receive information from the supplier who won the contract regarding the price and terms of the program. Each eligible service user also receives an opt-out form in the mail. The initial opt-out period is 21 days, but a user can do so later on by contacting the supplier. There are no fees or costs for leaving the program at any time.

Residents in the program would still receive bills from AEP or Columbia Gas of Ohio and would not receive separate bills from their electric or natural gas supplier. AEP and Columbia also would continue to read meters and respond to power outages or service disruptions.

A press release from Commission President Kevin Ritter said voting to pass the aggregation measures would not only save users in unincorporated areas money on their utility costs, but would give them the peace of mind of having a plan that has been reviewed, explained, and designed with proper safeguards for the consumers involved.

“Many citizens receive phone calls from suppliers, or are even visited at their door by sales people looking to sign them up for different programs. Many times the terms of these programs are long, technical and confusing in nature, and without careful review residents can be led into a program that starts out with a very low rate that then balloons into a much higher rate after a few months,” the release said.

Residents on such programs also could be auto-renewed without notification at much higher rates than their previous programs.

When questioned about possible disadvantages to county aggregation programs, Ritter said, “I honestly don’t see a disadvantage.”