As Regional Radio News reported last week, Clinton and DeWitt County are considering the process of electric aggregation.

The County Board recently approved to take the issue to referendum. DeWitt County Board Member George Wissmiller explains the process is having individuals come together to get their electricity from a third party provider which should give citizens a better rate on electricity.

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According to Wissmiller, only certain portions of DeWitt County are eligible for this process. He says first only Ameren customers can take advantage of this and also Farmer City residents are not able to either because they are provided electricity through the city of Farmer City.

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The City of Clinton has begun preliminary discussions of potentially putting this to referendum in the spring. Wissmiller says this would work a lot like health insurance, the more people they can get involved, the better the price would be for everyone involved.

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Wissmiller says he has not to this point, done much research on the issue. He says he intends to talk to other community leaders who have gone through this process already and find out what they have learned through it. He emphasizes the County Board has made no decisions about this yet other than to let the voters decide if they want them to continue forward with it. That vote will come up as a part of the Spring election.