By Danny YadronThe Daily Northwestern

While Evanston residents won’t feel the jolt just yet, changes are coming over the wires for the city.

The Evanston Energy Commission approved a contract earlier this month with Constellation Energy Group, making the Baltimore company the new power supplier for city buildings. The change will increase annual energy costs by 2 percent.

The deal only applies to “revenue producing buildings,” such as parking garages, said Joel Freeman, an energy commission member. But the deal is the first time the city government has purchased power from a firm other than Commonwealth Edison.

The change doesn’t apply to residents’ private bills.

ComEd owns the electric wires that service Evanston, and in the past, it selected the company that would produce the energy.

Evanston still will use ComEd’s wires, but now Constellation Energy Group will provide power.

“The results of the (electricity) auctions in September were that ComEd’s rates went up over 40 percent,” said Evanston Public Works employee David Cook, who brokered the deal. “The city went to look for alternative retail electric suppliers.”

Evanston’s search for cheap power is the result of the unfreezing of ComEd’s rates. The company had not increased energy costs in the past nine years.

Although the Illinois House of Representatives unsuccessfully tried to refreeze ComEd’s rates, Evanston officials said they have accepted reality.

“There are very few things that have had stable prices for that length of that time,” Freeman said. “Users of electricity are now going to pay a more market-based price for that electricity.”

Companies such as Constellation and ComEd, however, don’t think it’s worth the trouble or the paperwork to sell energy house by house, energy commission member William Siegfriedt said.

Because of this difficulty, Evanston residents still buy their power from ComEd.

“In theory, there’s competition,” he said. “In reality, there’s only one participant.”

In the past, municipalities have tried to form a single big buying block to bargain for residents. But there are too many legal restraints on what a city can do for its residents, Freeman said.

Evanston’s contract with Constellation also provides for the future development of renewable energy, such as from wind farms in downstate Illinois.

Part of the deal stipulates the city will pay an additional 10 percent on 20 percent of its electricity to support alternative energy suppliers, Cook said. The alternative energy funds are the reason for the 2 percent increase in the cost, even though the base price is cheaper than the current bill.

“I think Evanston has been portrayed as a very progressive community in a lot of ways,” Freeman said. “We’re finally jumping and doing what a lot of other places have done.”

While ComEd is no longer selling power to the city’s revenue producing buildings, it still uses its infrastructure to deliver electricity to all of Evanston and provides free power to non-revenue producing buildings, such as police stations and fire departments.

The free power is in exchange for rights of way through city territory. The cost also is passed on to residents in a 50 cent addition to their monthly bills.

Although this specific contract isn’t up for review until July, the Energy Commission is already exploring alternatives, Freeman said.

Reach Danny Yadron at [email protected].