Recently, Fayetteville Village Board voted to allow energy aggregation company Good Energy to begin the data collection process to possibly bring their Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program to residents the in village. In order for the board to be able to make an informed decision on the program, it is necessary for residents to become educated and voice their opinions.

The CCA program was created to aid municipalities in offering lower cost natural gas and electricity to a majority of residents in a particular municipality. All steps of the process must be approved by the village or town boards, and includes two rounds data collection, community outreach and implementation of the program. Good Energy will not move forward with the process if it is not found they will not be able to offer lower energy rates after data collection. If the program is adopted, a resident must opt-out or their energy provider will be switched to Good Energy.

At the Sept. 27 public hearing, only one resident was present to voice their opinions on the project. The Eagle Bulletin believes residents need to educate themselves to be able to inform the village board of their opinions so they can make the best decision for the community.

On one hand, helping residents lower their energy costs could be beneficial as a cost-savings service for residents. On the other hand, is it a village board’s duty to allow a company to collect data on a resident and essentially make a consumer choice for a citizen?

Although the program itself has not been approved, somewhere down the line the village board may be faced with the decision on whether or not to have Good Energy be the main provider of gas and electricity to everyone in the village who chooses not to opt-out. Please make your opinion known to the village board. More information can be obtained by calling the village clerk at 637-9864.