Struthers committee told to lock a 21‑month city electric supply as transmission charges push rates up

Tom Bellish, the city’s energy consultant, told the Struthers public utilities committee that rapidly rising transmission capacity charges — the fee suppliers pass through to move power from generating plants into local distribution systems — are the main factor driving electric rates higher for both municipal accounts and residents.

"That portion has gone up a lot...it used to be maybe half a cent...now it's more like 3 and a half or 4," Bellish said in the meeting, describing the recent jump in capacity charges and noting capacity prices cited in the meeting extend through May 2028. He said generation costs remain relatively low but the transmission component has pushed total prices above what residents and the city have typically paid.

Bellish presented offers for multiple city accounts and recommended a 21‑month supplier term for the city’s aggregated municipal accounts so they align administratively with the streetlight account, which renews in December 2027. He urged council to authorize the mayor and staff to execute a contract if Bellish secures a rate the city finds acceptable. "If we had authorization to sign, we can work with the mayor to have something signed when we get a more attractive price," Bellish said.

On residential aggregation, Bellish reported the city’s current residential figure (noted in the meeting as about 7.95) and said a bid that day was 10.1; he advised holding off on locking the residential contract until a sub‑10 price is available. Councilors pressed on contract length and hedging strategy; Bellish said multi‑year averaging can smooth costs but long deals currently appear more expensive than shorter terms amid the present capacity price pattern.

During the later finance and legislation session, the clerk read three ordinance introductions tied to the discussion: an ordinance authorizing the city to enter a contract with DynaJi Energy Services East LLC as electric supplier for the city’s municipal accounts and declaring an emergency; an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter a contract with Panagy as supplier for residential and small commercial members of the city aggregation program without public bids and declaring an emergency; and an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter an agreement with Youngstown (as the housing item described in committee) for workforce home construction under Welcome Home Ohio, also declared an emergency. Councilors moved to "bring [each ordinance] out" and seconds are recorded in the transcript, but no final adoption vote on those ordinances is recorded in the provided transcript.

Next steps recorded in the meeting: Bellish will continue to monitor the market and, with council authorization, work with the mayor to lock in the municipal contract when a favorable rate appears; the mailing for aggregation (if approved) was noted as early March, giving a short operational window for the residential timeline. The committee agreed to revisit community aggregation terms at the May review meeting.