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Lisbon eyes electric, gas aggregates

LISBON–Village residents will have the option to participate in both an electricity and natural gas discount program following action taken this week by village council.

Council agreed to participate in a natural gas and electricity aggregation program offered through Aspen Energy, an energy purchasing group. Acting as a broker, Aspen negotiates a locked-in aggregation, or group, price for natural gas and electricity and passes that onto communities that contract with them.

For Lisbon, Aspen would be able to obtain electricity at $5.67 per kilowatt and natural gas at $1.17 per MCF, and these rates would remain in place from May 2018 through 2020. Unlike past aggregation programs, participants are not automatically enrolled but would have to join.

Officials are not sure when the enrollment period will begin but residents and businesses will likely receive a letter in the mail from Aspen advising them of the details and explaining how to sign up. Participants can drop out at any time and there is no fee.

Council President Roger Gallo, who works for FirstEnergy, questioned the benefit of participating in these utility aggregation programs. “Personally, I think this is all smoke and mirrors,” he said.

Council member Vito DiIullo said all they are doing by contracting with Aspen is giving residents the option of participating in the program, and participants can drop out at any time for free.

“I don’t know that we can hurt ourselves,” he said.

Mayor Joe Morenz agreed, saying residents are free at any time to join with any other utility supplier to obtain cheaper rates. “If they can beat this (Aspen’s rates) they can still do that,” he said.

In other business, council agreed to police Chief Mike Abraham’s request they hire Gary Dailey Excavating for $1,900 to repair the outdoor portion of the sewer line leading into the police department bathrooms because of continued flushing problems with the toilets.

“The magic toilets didn’t solve the problem,” Gallo asked, referring to the two new $400 toilets with increased flushing capacity that were installed last month. “I thought the toilets were the end all?”

Abraham said they were hoping the new toilets would solve the problem but they did not, which is why he is recommending Dailey dig up the line to determine if a suspected low spot exists. If this fails, the next step would be to dig up the portion of the sewer line that lies within village hall.

In other news, street Supervisor Jim Oliver reported they have been patching potholes using the DuraPatcher machine, and council authorized him to purchase another $1,500 worth of material so they can continue.

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