Say No to NOPEC


November 09, 2021

 

Do you live in a NOPEC town? 

If you live in a NOPEC town, your Mayor and/or town council have involved your community in the smart process of electricity aggregation. This allows your community to combine its buying power to get you a better deal on your electric bill. It’s a good idea, if implemented wisely. Through this process, your community’s leaders chose NOPEC, the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, as your community's electricity provider -- you have probably seen the name NOPEC somewhere on your electric bill. Aggregators like NOPEC effectively function as utility businesses.

Smart Community Choice Aggregation can be a great tool to fight climate change

Aggregation can do more than save you money. When utilized thoughtfully, aggregation can also help your community reduce its local carbon footprint, fight climate change, and improve our environment and public health -- but only if your town fights to include renewable energy sources in their NOPEC aggregation contract.

NOPEC does not automatically include or require even a minimum of green energy sources in their contracts -- not unless communities demand it. While a lot of towns don’t know that negotiating green contracts is even an option, some are wisely adding renewable energy requirements to their aggregation contracts. Several Ohio communities have done so, making pledges to get to 100% renewable energy by 2025. But these kinds of goals can only be met with the help of aggregation contracts that prioritize green energy in their electricity choices.

NOPEC should be regularly offering affordable renewable energy choices to all of its customers, and communities have the right to know exactly what’s in any NOPEC renewable energy program so you can be sure they’re offering the best deal.

Ohio Citizen Action, together with the Power a Clean Future Ohio campaign, is working to help communities across Ohio understand how to negotiate stronger, greener aggregation contracts for your electricity. But we need your help to make better contracts a genuine priority -- with your community and with NOPEC.

NOPEC towns just received an offer that should be refused.

If you live in a NOPEC town, NOPEC recently made a pitch to your city’s leaders about participating in their questionable renewable energy plan, and they are moving fast to get your town locked into a contract with a needlessly rushed end-of-the-year deadline. It’s questionable because they’ve left too many things up in the air that community decision makers need to know BEFORE making a decision of this magnitude. This isn’t the time for a “blind faith” approach to lowering emissions and cutting the cost of our energy bills. 

Ohio Citizen Action is very concerned that NOPEC is trying to rush your community’s leaders into a lasting decision with little notice or public input. We know NOPEC can do better than this bare-minimum plan, and now is the time for your town to do its homework and demand a better deal -- and your elected leaders need to hear from you about it. 
 
Join us in urging your mayor to not be pushed into a quick decision on such an important issue. Tell your city leaders to say No to NOPEC on this expensive and hasty deal, and urge them to push NOPEC for real clean energy solutions that will reduce BOTH our local carbon emissions and our electricity bills.

Please write your Mayor!

By contacting your town’s elected leadership now, you can not only help your community avoid a rushed deal but also hold NOPEC accountable to your community’s values.