CARBONDALE – The City of Carbondale participates in an electric aggregation buying group with 94 other communities known as the Southern Illinois Aggregation Partnership (SIAP). Through this, the City of Carbondale has a contract with Homefield Energy that keeps electric prices at a fixed, steady rate throughout the year, instead of fluctuating as with other energy suppliers.
The new aggregated rate from Homefield Energy will be $0.11789/kWh. This is a 12-month fixed rate, from June 1, 2025 to June 1, 2026, sitting this year at a lower fixed rate than Ameren’s new price to compare of $0.12547/kWh, starting June 1 and ending Sept. 30, 2025.
The non-summer numbers from Ameren will not be official until late September for the period of Oct. 1, 2025 – May 31, 2026.
Residents will soon be receiving letters from Homefield Energy on these current rates. If you wish to participate in the City’s negotiated aggregation rate you do not need to do anything further after receiving your letter. If you DO NOT wish to participate, you must Opt-Out. Instructions will be on the letter or you can call Homefield Energy at 866-694-1262 to opt-out. The deadline to opt-out is May 28, however there will be no penalties or early termination fees if you choose to opt-out at a later date.
Opt-out letters were recently sent out for the new aggregation rate by Homefield. There is an opt-out period currently happening until May 28 for all eligible residents which includes the following:
1. Residents currently enrolled with Homefield Energy under the previous aggregation rate of $0.091/kWh
2. Residents currently being served by Ameren’s basic generation service for electric supply, regardless of if they opted out of the previous aggregation rate.
Residents who opted out previously, or moved within or into the City since the last opt-out period, may still have Ameren as their electric supplier and were mailed an opt-out letter by Homefield for the new aggregation rate beginning next month. These people can opt-out now before the May 28 deadline and will not be subject to Ameren’s minimum stay requirement since they will not be getting dropped by an electric supplier.
Minimum stay requirement from Ameren comes into play when a customer is receiving electric supply from a retail electric supplier and returns to Ameren’s electric supply service. If they do so, they have 60 days to select a new retail electric supplier and if they do not choose one, they must remain a customer of Ameren’s electric supply service for an additional 10 months (12 months total being on Ameren’s service).
3. If you have solar panels installed at your home and are participating in Ameren’s net metering, you may want to opt-out of the City’s aggregation program. Switching electric suppliers can lead to resetting of your kWh bank with Ameren IL. If you have kWh’s banked through your net metering plan it is recommended you opt-out of the City’s aggregation program so there is no risk of losing those banked kWh’s.
Homefield Energy FAQ’s:
1. What is the new electric aggregation rate from Homefield Energy?
The new rate will be $0.11789/kWh. as part of the aggregation program from Homefield Energy. This is a 12-month fixed rate from June 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
2. What is Ameren’s price-to-compare? Ameren’s price to compare for their Residential Basic Generation Service for electric supply will be $0.12547/kWh from June 1st to September 30th. Their non- summer rate will be officially announced towards the end of September for the period of Oct. 1 to May 31.
3. If I opted-out of the aggregation program last fall, do I have to opt-out again this time? Yes, residents who opted out under a previous rate but are still eligible for the aggregation program and received an opt-out letter would have to opt-out again from the new rate to avoid being automatically enrolled in the aggregation program. Opt-out letters are mailed to all eligible residents every time the aggregation rate changes, regardless of whether you opted-out of a previous aggregation rate or not.
4. If I do not opt-out by the May 28 deadline, will I have to stay in the aggregation program?
No. Residents can opt-out of the program at any time by calling Homefield Energy at 866-694-1262. There is no penalty or early termination fee for residents to opt-out of the aggregation program after having already been enrolled.
5. If I opt-out of the aggregation program now, can I rejoin the aggregation later?
If you have been participating in the aggregation program with Homefield Energy as your electric supplier and opt-out now, then you may have to remain on a minimum stay period with Ameren for 12 months before you are eligible to rejoin the aggregation program. If Ameren is currently your electric supplier and you opt-out now, you should be able to rejoin the aggregation program at any time.
6. Who should I contact if I wish to opt-out of the program?
Homefield Energy handles all enrollments in and out of the aggregation program. Please call Homefield at 866-694-1262 if you wish to not participate in the aggregation program.
7. Is there someone else I can speak with about other questions I have about this program?
Our community works with AGE as our consultant for our aggregation program. Jordan Haarmann is our primary point of contact with AGE. He can be reached at 618-203-8328 or jordan.h@agellc.com.
8. What is being done to help lower costs in the future for the aggregation programs? SIAP Solar Inc. is a non-profit that has been formed with the purpose of building solar arrays throughout Southern Illinois that will directly benefit our aggregation program. These solar arrays will take advantage of government incentive dollars for renewable energy to be built at lower costs. Once constructed, the solar arrays will begin generating bill credits to residents participating in the aggregation program.
For more info on the energy aggregation program and how it may benefit residents and businesses, visit https://www.explorecarbondale.com/999/Electric-Aggregation-Program.
