Public commenters split on cost and reliability as Naperville weighs alternatives

Several members of the public urged the council to prioritize affordability and reliability when evaluating alternatives to the IMEA contract, while others urged flexibility and market tools to hedge future prices.

James Filar told the council that only a small share of customers enroll in the city's energy programs and cited a figure of "6%" participation and an assertion that residents have collectively paid "$700,000,000 over the last 24 years" without realizing a promised 25% reduction. Tim Ferido presented cost comparisons asserting that Prairie State (post‑bond) would cost about $35 per megawatt‑hour versus roughly $105 per MWh for a solar PPA plus PJM capacity — an example intended to illustrate potential higher costs for some market options (Tim Ferido).

By contrast, Joe Huss (a NEST volunteer) argued the city need not hire a large staff for market participation and that the city can use purchase power agreements and outside power marketers to achieve hedging without long‑term asset ownership. Roger Blomquist, an engineer, emphasized reliability as the top priority and criticized claims that recent shifts have made electricity cheaper; Robert Giese urged careful scientific and policy analysis before assuming a "climate crisis" framing. Each public commenter asked the council to weigh tradeoffs between cost, reliability and sustainability.