Kendall County Electric Aggregation on March 18 Ballot

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If it passes, the referendum will allow the board to try to negotiate lower rates for electricity.

"Electric supply aggregation is a process whereby an entire community moves to an alternate electric supplier as a group," the county said in a press release. "Communities are pursuing electric supply aggregation because they may be able to help their residents and eligible small businesses save money by creating a combined customer group that has more buying power than individual residents."

The referendum question on the March 18 ballot reads: "Shall the County of Kendall have the authority to arrange for the supply of electricity for its residential and small commercial retail customers who have not opted out of such a program?"

If the referendum passes, unincorporated residents won't see a change to their bills, which will still be sent by ComEd. That's because ComEd will continue to deliver power for whichever electricity supplier is chosen by the board.

Residents who don't already have an alternate supplier will also receive a letter giving them the opportunity to "opt out" and stick with ComEd as their energy supplier.

Residents can get more information on electric aggregation by calling the electric supply aggregation hotline at 1-800-856-3404 or visiting www.electricsupplyvote.org.

A similar electric aggregation measure failed in Will County in 2012, but aggregation was passed in communities including Plainfield and Romeoville. That summer, the Village of Romeoville reported that electricity costs were down 42 percent.

Early voting starts March 3

Early voting for the March 18 primary starts March 8 and ends March 15.

Early voting polling locations are the Oswego Village Hall (100 Parkers Mill, Oswego) and County Office Building (111 W. Fox Street, Yorkville).