The cost of living in Riverside is going up this year.
At the village board’s June 6 meeting, trustees agreed to two measures — one increased the price of electricity in town while the other increased the price of water, though both increases are due to factors outside of the village board’s control.
Starting in October, the price of electricity for most users in Riverside will increase from 7.57 cents per kilowatt-hour to 8.09 cents per. The village will maintain its 100% green energy aggregation program for another year through a contract with MC Squared Energy Services, which provided the village with electricity from 2020-2023.
As of January 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency recognized Riverside as the second-best community for green power in the country, as 74% of the village’s electricity comes from green power.
Changes to the water rate are retroactive to June 1 and will start showing up on water bills next month. Like Brookfield last month, Riverside is increasing its water rate as a consequence of Chicago, which indirectly supplies Riverside with water, raising the rates for its water customers.
Residents will owe $1.33 more per thousand gallons of water used for a total of $20.77 per thousand gallons. The sewer rate is also increasing by $0.17 per thousand gallons of water for a total of $5.45 per thousand gallons.
“It’s not lost on me that in one meeting — and I believe in the decisions we’re about to make here — but in one meeting, we’ve increased the resident-experienced cost for electricity and for water. These are basic services. These are fundamentals,” Trustee Megan Claucherty said. “For families on the edge or families without a lot of extra in their budgets, this is impactful.”
Electricity
At the board meeting, trustees discussed options for moving forward with the village’s electric aggregation program, which it has run since 2012. Village Clerk Ethan Sowl said the board did not need to make a choice at the meeting, but if it did not, the village’s aggregation program would end, and residents would be individually enrolled with ComEd.
As part of the program, the village received bids on June 6 from two electric companies that provided fixed rates for 12-, 24- and 36-month contracts at 0%, 25%, 50% and 100% green energy. Across all four options for green energy, MC Squared provided the lowest rates with its 12-month contract.
Those rates ranged from 7.69 cents per kWh at no green energy to 8.09 cents per kWh at 100% green energy, making them higher across the board compared to last year’s rate of 7.57 cents per kWh at 100% green energy.
“It’s really disappointing. The price of energy just keeps going up, and the price of green energy is at a premium,” Trustee Aberdeen Marsh-Ozga said.
She pointed out that low- or moderate-income residents in Riverside may choose to opt out of the aggregation program due to the premium cost of electricity and proposed solar power through the Illinois Solar for All program as an alternative these residents may consider pursuing. To qualify, households must make 80% or less of the median area income.
At the meeting, Riverside trustees realized there were two efficient options to move forward: they could accept MC Squared’s 8.09 cent rate and extend the village’s streak of 100% green power for another year, or they could end the streak and sign a different contract with MC Squared to match ComEd’s rate, which is not fixed, and offset 10% of the village’s electricity. As of the June 6 meeting, the ComEd rate was 6.62 cents per kWh.
Sharon Durling, president and CEO of Illinois Aggregation Consultants and Riverside’s aggregation consultant, said only 9% of Riverside residents opted out of the aggregation program last year.
“That speaks to, I think, confidence in your choice and maybe buy-in from residents, because anyone can opt out at any time, and there was not 100% opt-out,” she said.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but it also indicates that residents are willing to pay for green energy,” Village President Douglas Pollock said.
Ultimately, the board agreed unanimously to the 100% green power contract with MC Squared, extending the village’s streak for another year.
Since 2012, Riverside has offered the electric aggregation program for its residents and small business, allowing the village to aggregate the combined electric load in town and negotiate a fixed rate. Since starting the program, the village has only selected electric suppliers who offer 100% green energy, which means they offset the village’s energy consumption by purchasing renewable energy certificates.
Residents and businesses alike are able to opt out of the program and select their own electric provider. For more information about the program, visit Riverside’s website.
Water
Riverside purchases its water from McCook, which purchases water from Chicago. Chicago raised rates for its water customers earlier this year, so the upcharge has been passed down through McCook and Riverside to residents.
But that’s not the only cause for the increase in Riverside’s bills. Because village staff know Chicago raises its water prices every June, the village is raising water and sewer rates at the same time to collect money for the village’s capital improvement projects as well as its lead service line replacements. The lead service line replacements must begin by 2027 according to the Lead Service Line Replacement and Notification Act.
The move is one the village board approved in 2022 after the state mandated the replacements.
“Instead of increasing the bill significantly in the year that we do a lot of lead service line replacements, we would do a smoothing technique, so it would be a little increment each year,” Finance Director Yvette Zavala said.
Between Chicago’s rate increase, the lead service lines and upcoming projects like street improvements, Riverside’s base water rate has gone up 6.83% for the next year. The sewer rate increase is 3.30%.
According to a village memo, the annual bill for a Riverside water user will increase 6.07% compared to last year. Someone using the minimum amount of water — 4,000 gallons or less each bimonthly billing cycle — will pay $36 more next year compared to this year; someone using the average 8,228 gallons of water per bimonthly bill will pay $74.05 more.
“As always, I’d like to remind everyone that the water fund is an enterprise fund. Every dollar that a resident or business pays for water stays in that fund and is spent for maintenance, operations, capital [improvement projects] and purchase of water,” Pollock said. “It’s unfortunate that it’s going up, but it’s not just us. It’s happening everywhere because of the cost of buying water, and now with the state mandated requirement to replace lead service lines, we have no choice but to pay for those.”
