1. Cost: Unpredictable and Historically High

• No Price Commitments: The IMEA contract does not include fixed prices or price caps. Any price estimates are speculative, leaving Naperville ratepayers exposed to unpredictable costs. (C)
• Consistently More Expensive: Independent analyses by both paid city consultants and NEST found IMEA’s rates have been higher than alternatives. NEST found that over the past decade, Naperville ratepayers could have saved over $300 million with other providers because of billion-dollar project cost overruns. (A)(B)(P)
• Lack of Competitive Bidding: Naperville has only received offers from IMEA, despite many firms offering similar services. (D) Competitive bidding is a standard best practice to ensure lower costs.
• Unbalanced Governance: Naperville pays for 36% of IMEA’s costs but has only 3% of the voting power, giving smaller towns disproportionate control over decisions that affect Naperville’s rates. We have over 28 times as many residents as the average city that has signed the IMEA extension. (E)
• Costly Investments: IMEA is now investing in new transmission projects, requiring Naperville to fund $27 million in projects if we sign the contract. The projects aren’t even on Naperville’s grid (PJM), and no information on the return on investment is being provided to the city council or residents. (F)
• Renewables Are Cheaper: The cost of renewable energy (solar and wind) is now lower than coal and continues to fall. In 2025, 88% of new U.S. power capacity came from renewables, helping stabilize long-term energy costs. When the new contract begins in 2035, renewable costs are projected to decline even more (N)(O)(Q)
• Misleading Comparisons: Claims that ComEd is more expensive are misleading. First, NEST does not recommend we switch to ComEd. Second, those costs they provided don’t include the millions of tax dollars Naperville residents pay for our Electricity department. Third, ComEd is a retail distributor, not a wholesale generator like IMEA, and state law prevents direct competition between the two.

2. Risk: Locked In and Vulnerable to Change

• No Exit Until 2055: The contract cannot be terminated early, locking Naperville into IMEA for 30 years, regardless of future market changes or better alternatives. (C)
• Regulatory Uncertainty: The energy sector is rapidly evolving, with new laws and technologies emerging. (H)  Committing to a long-term, inflexible contract increases the risk that Naperville will miss out on future savings or cleaner options.
• Potential for Higher Costs: Proposed legislation could require polluters to pay more (I), and since IMEA’s electricity is among the dirtiest in Illinois, Naperville could face significant rate hikes if such laws pass.
• Scare Tactics: IMEA has used shifting deadlines and threats of penalties to pressure Naperville into an early commitment, despite industry experts stating that such long lead times are unusual and unnecessary. The industry is trying to scare residents by saying the state doesn’t think it will have enough electricity in 2030, so we need to stay with IMEA. By contract, we have to stay with IMEA until 2035, so 2030 is a red herring. The state mandated those studies so they could build additional capacity if they saw a future shortage. The recently passed energy legislation allows the state to build additional electricity generation if it lacks adequate generating capacity.

3. Pollution: High Environmental Impact

• Coal Dependency: 86% of IMEA’s electricity generation comes from coal—the most polluting energy source. IMEA owns the largest coal plant in Illinois, one of the top 10 worst in the U.S. for greenhouse gas emissions. (L)(J)
• Massive Pollution: IMEA generates 3.5 billion pounds of pollution annually to supply Naperville’s electricity. (K)
• No Binding Commitments: IMEA’s marketing claims future pollution reductions, but these promises are not included in the contract.(C)
• Lobbying Against Clean Energy: IMEA uses ratepayer money to lobby for continued coal use, delaying the transition to cleaner, cheaper energy. (M)
• Wrong Signal: Continuing to support coal plants delays their closure. If fewer communities sign up, these polluting plants will shut down sooner.

A. Click the City’s Energy Workshop video link. At the 1:10:45 time, CJ Law said IMEA was more expensive. 
https://naperville.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1327572&GUID=81238E77-DBAA-4CD1-A9E0-1C181A034461&Options=info|&Search=#

2. Click the video link. At 2:39:39, NEST says IMEA was more expensive. 
   https://naperville.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1327572&GUID=81238E77-DBAA-4CD1-A9E0-1C181A034461&Options=info|&Search=# Detailed analysis is on Page 48, 49, and 50 –
   City Council Energy Workshop – NEST Presentation. https://naperville.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=14545541&GUID=48C4CEFD-B5BB-460E-BF3B-8786F637CFB

C. The latest contract offer from the IMEA is available here. 
https://www.naperville.il.us/services/electric-utility/your-electric-service/imea/ via the link that says, “Contract Extension Offer.” You can search for it to see if there are any pricing promises or price caps, but you won’t find any. If they were going to be cheaper, why wouldn’t they put that in the contract? 

4. Federal Energy Information Agency – 2024 Retail Power Marketers Sales.
   Illinois is on pages 2 and 3  https://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/pdf/table_16.pdf
5. Page 12 of IMEA 2025 Annual Report 
   https://www.imea.org/IMEA%20Financial%20and%20Annual%20Reports.html
6. https://www.imea.org/IMEA%20Board%20Meeting%20Schedule.asp 
   December 3 board packet. Naperville share is $27 million because that’s 36% of $75 million. IMEA CEO said
7. https://electrek.co/2025/11/03/ferc-for-two-years-straight-solar-leads-new-us-power-capacity/
8. https://ilenviro.org/illinois-lawmakers-just-passed-another-big-clean-energy-bill/#:~:text=Illinois%20lawmakers%20just%20passed%20another,a%20fall%20veto%20session%20Thursday.
9. https://www.volts.wtf/p/how-illinois-passed-its-third-big
10. https://www.eenews.net/articles/the-top-10-emitting-power-plants-in-america/
11. Naperville City Manager’s Memorandum May 15, 2025, Page 5
12. https://cleanenergynaperville.org/did-you-know/naperville-imea-sources-of-electricity/
13. https://www.imea.org/IMUA.html
14. Scientific American – https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wind-and-solar-energy-are-cheaper-than-electricity-from-fossil-fuel-plants/
15. Reuters – https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/renewable-energy-remains-cheapest-power-builds-new-gas-plants-get-pricier-2025-06-16/
16. Chicago Tribune – Clean coal dream a costly nightmare – https://www.chicagotribune.com/2010/07/12/clean-coal-dream-a-costly-nightmare-3/
17. Ember – https://ember-energy.org/ In their 2025 report, they wrote, “Demand is rising as new uses emerge across the U.S. economy, from data centers to transportation to heating. This makes the case for solar and wind today even stronger — they are not only fast to deploy and cheap but also help stabilize energy costs in the long run.” and “Since coal generation peaked in 2007, the US has made significant progress in its clean energy transition, leading to a 68% fall in coal.“ The cost of renewable energy has dramatically decreased. These charts are from the 2025 Ember Energy analysis

US Electricity 2025 – Special Report