At last week’s Shamong Township Committee meeting, an opportunity arose for the town to join the Burlington County Energy Aggregation Program.
Under the program, residents would still receive Atlantic City Electric, it would just be the source of the power that would be changing. There would also be no change in the buildings regarding an emergency. Residents would still call Atlantic City Electric with any problems.
The county is trying to get as many municipalities as possible to participate to ensure a higher savings for the applicants.
Based on the anticipated auctions in late May and early June, it was estimated there would be a central savings of 5 percent to 13 percent for energy users because all Burlington County towns would be banding together as an aggregate to buy this energy.
But these projections were based on potential auctions, and nothing was guaranteed.
Mayor Tim Gimbel was still skeptical about the process for this reason. He even admitted he would be on board if they would put it in a contract and guarantee a savings of 20 percent for people based on what they are saving now.
“Anyone can go and individually sign up for this and get the same savings,” Gimbel said. “People are smart enough to do this themselves if they want to do it.”
If Shamong were to get involved, residents would not be given the opportunity to initially decline joining. Every resident would be a part of the change but would have an opportunity to opt out if they wanted. The county approached the township with this proposal before and the committee voted against it because it wasn’t easy to opt out.
Residents would be identified of the change through a mailer, information on the township website and a presentation at an upcoming township committee meeting.
Many surrounding towns such as Moorestown, Cinnaminson, Lumberton, Southampton, Woodland and Tabernacle have already decided to participate.
Committeeman Michael Cooney was intrigued by the fact that so many other townships were getting involved.
“Should we at least entertain the idea of them giving us a presentation of some sort?” Cooney asked.
Gimbel proposed the idea of sending the information through the school to reach more families than a presentation at a committee meeting would.
At the end of the day, it was clear Gimbel did not want to be advocating for people to do this because these residents would likely hold the committee responsible if they faced any problems in the future, and they could just as easily join the program separately without being pressured to.
“I think Tim’s point is well taken. If people want this, they can do it themselves and then we don’t have to jam it down anyone’s throat,” Committeeman Michael Di Croce said.
After the proposal was made by Township Administrator Sue Onorato, the committee once again turned down the idea of joining the Burlington County Energy Aggregation Program.
“I want nothing to do with it,” Gimbel said.
For folks looking to get involved, there is a residential opt-in option listed on the New Jersey Aggregation of Electric and Gas website www.njaggregation.us/index.html.
