EATON —Bill Bradish, Account Manager with Palmer Energy Company, attended the Preble County Commissioners’ meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13, to “refresh” the electric aggregation numbers for those residents who are in the program.”
“One thing to know, if you recall, we had Jackson under a separate agreement and when they renewed the last time we had theirs expire at the same time, so they will all be under the same agreement now. We refreshed with First Energy, they came out better and a little lower than what I thought, to be honest,” Bradish said.
“What I want to discuss is FES financial challenges. I think we talked about this in the fall, a little bit, but there is a threat from First Energy to file for bankruptcy. We don’t know how credible it is, we really don’t, but it exists. What is the worse that could happen if we enter into a contract with them?
“There will be a bankruptcy trustee that will look at a company’s contracts that they have. They will decide which ones to keep. If the worst were to happen and they want to get rid of our contract, simply the people in the program would go on the utility on the current rate and we would go back and get you a better deal. That is the worst that can happen.”
“From my understanding,” Commission President Chris Day said. “We should roll the dice and take the best deal we can get now and if we have to renegotiate later, then we’ll reevaluate then.”
Bradish answered, “It is your call, but that is our recommendation.”
“How many players are there in this market? Are there a lot of suppliers?” Commissioner Rodney Creech asked.
Bradish answered that there are many.
“If I hear a company went out of business and their prices are the cheapest, that is why they went out of business,” Creech noted. “Do you want to do business with them? People who don’t know how to price are the ones that go out of business.”
“There are a half dozen suppliers in this market,” Bradish said.
“So, you don’t think they will have us in a corner if First Energy goes out of business?” Creech asked.
“It is still going to be competitive,” Bradish answered. “That is a good point, but First Energy has been a very good business for us, for you guys. We don’t know what all is behind the potential bankruptcy and I am not going to speculate. If we were scared to death, we wouldn’t be recommending it, we wouldn’t.”
