Utilities

Overview  Help with Your Gas Bill

Utilities

Com Ed - Electric Company
1040 N. Janes Avenue
Bolingbrook, Illinois 60440-1099
Telephone: 1-800-Edison-1

DuPage County Public Works (Water and Sewer)
7900 Rt. 53
Woodridge, IL 60517
630-985-2905

NiCor Gas Company
90 North Finley Road
Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137
Telephone: 630-629-2500

AT&T
New Service 800-244-4444

Flagg Creek Water Reclamation District
Teleohone:  630-323-3299

Cable TV and Internet Service for Darien

Comcast
Cable sales & service: 1-866-594-1234
High Speed Internet Service: 1-888-423-7888

AT&T U-Verse
AT&T U-Verse is now offered in some parts of Darien. You can check availability by calling (877) U ASK ATT or visiting http://uverse.att.com.

Local Customer Service Center
4748 Main Street
Lisle, Illinois
Monday through Thursday: 8:00am - 7:00pm
Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday: 9:00am - 5:00pm

Veolia Environmental Services
4612 W. Lake Street
Melrose Park, IL 60160
708-409-9700

Electric Aggregation Ballot Question

The City of Darien has placed a referendum on the upcoming March 20th ballot allowing the City of Darien to solicit bids for the purchase of power on the open energy market. The goal is to reduce the electricity costs for residential homes and small businesses.

Residential electric rates are set every May by ComEd. The fixed rates are then in effect for 12 months. The City is taking the necessary steps to have other electric suppliers provide rate quotes to compete with ComEd. Even if the power is purchased from another supplier, residents would not notice a change as their billing would still be through ComEd.

The City of Darien has been purchasing its power for water pumping and street lighting operations from suppliers other than ComEd since 2007. These suppliers have been able to offer lower rates than those we would have received from ComEd.

Municipalities are now able to receive bids from suppliers on behalf of the entire community. If the rates are lower than ComEd’s, the municipality can move all residential and small business accounts in the city limits to the new supplier. This is similar to how the City of Darien negotiates advantageous pricing for refuse haulers, concrete driveway repair, tree trimming, and gas lights. Before the municipality can make this choice for electricity, the residents need to approve a resolution on the March 20th ballot.

Even if the referendum passes, Darien is not obligated to switch suppliers. The referendum simply gives the municipality the right to solicit competitive bids. Once the bids are received, then the City Council will decide if it is in the best interest of the residents to move to the lower cost supplier. Residents will have a few chances to opt-out of the aggregation program, but must do so before the City service begins. Residents will receive notice from ComEd informing them of the opt-out period, who to contact, and how they must communicate their intention to opt-out. If not, all residents will remain with ComEd for the following 12 months.

For more information please visit our website at www.darien.il.us or 630-353-8104.

The following Q & A attempts to answer many of the electric aggregation questions.

Question: How can the City purchase power at a potentially lower cost?

Answer: Deregulation allows the City to shop for power and purchase in bulk for our customers at a lower price.

Question: Who will take care of my power if there is an outage?

Answer: ComEd, by law, will still be paid to distribute the power to the homes and businesses and handle any emergency repairs.

Question: What if I don’t want to participate in the program?

Answer: Residents will have multiple opportunities to “opt out” of the program, which will be your right by law.

Question: How do I opt-out of the program?

Answer: Customers will have a few chances to opt-out of the aggregation program, but must do so before the City service begins. Customers will receive notice from ComEd informing them of the opt-out period, who to contact, and how they must communicate their intention to opt-out. The Illinois Commerce Commission has yet to determine the course of action to be taken if a customer who opted out, decides to rejoin the Community Choice Aggregation option at a later date.

Question: What happens if the City cannot purchase or negotiate lower rates than ComEd?

Answer: Your account would stay at ComEd and ComEd would be both the power provider and the local distribution company. Either way, ComEd will be our distributor. By voting yes on the referendum, Com Ed will then have to compete with power suppliers from throughout the Midwest to provide our power.

Question: Why is this opportunity available?

Answer: This is the last part of the Deregulation Process. Until this Act was amended, only larger customers such as industrial, commercial, and governmental entities could participate. Three fourths of this commercial load is currently purchased from sources other than ComEd.

Question: Why is the City of Darien doing this?

Answer: The City does not profit from this. We, as a governmental organization, are trying to take advantage of the new law to benefit our residents and small business and save them money.

Question: I am currently enrolled in ComEd’s budget program where you are able to spread out your ComEd electric service costs evenly throughout the year. Will the new power provider have this or a similar program?

Answer: The City will request that this program is included in the bid specs.

Question: What happens if the new power provider cannot meet its demand? Will we see brownouts? Would there be a surcharge to cover the costs of getting power from another supplier?

Answer: In the unlikely event that a supplier could not deliver the contracted power, ComEd would provide and deliver power to the City residents. The Illinois Commerce Commission reviews all power suppliers to ensure that they can meet the demand. NIMEC and other energy consultants continue to work with the Illinois Power Agency and the ICC to adopt rules which will alleviate these concerns.

Question: If aggregation means lower energy costs for customers, won’t ComEd simply increase charges on the distribution side to protect its profit margin?

Answer: ComEd owns the distribution system only, and so does not realize profits or losses from the sale of energy. ComEd has worked for several years with large commercial and industrial customers who have switched to third-party energy suppliers, and remains supportive of other customers who switch to third-party suppliers. In other words, there will be no impact on distribution rates, Per ICC regulations, ComEd cannot introduce any separate distribution fees on cities that aggregate.

Once again the City of Darien does not profit from Community Choice Aggregation. We, as a governmental organization, are trying to take advantage of the new law to benefit our residents and small business and save them money.

Waste Hauling and Recycling

The current refuse hauler for the City of Darien is Veolia Environmental Services. They may be reached at 708-409-9700

Darien uses a sticker system in which residents affix one sticker for each 32/33 gallon garbage cans or on a garbage bag and it is picked up on a regularly scheduled garbage day. The weight limit for the garbage is 50 pounds per container. Yard waste can be put in a brown paper bag or put in a garbage can with a "YARD WASTE ONLY" tag affixed to the side. The stickers and tags can be picked up at City Hall.

Last Day for Refuse Sticker Refunds June 30, 2011!

Refunds for old Arc/Allied Waste yellow stickers are being provided now thru June 30, 2011 at Darien City Hall, 1702 Plainfield Road, Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm. No refunds will be given after June 30, 2011. For more information please call Darien City Hall at (630) 852-5000.

Garbage Holidays

Our garbage collectors have six holidays: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. On the weeks that this occurs, garbage collection will be pushed back one day from the holiday.

Bulk Items

Bulk items are large items that are not included in normal garbage pick-up. Examples of bulk items are sofas, loveseats, chairs, tables, and microwaves. Two stickers must be affixed to each bulk item for it to be removed on your normal garbage pick-up day.

White Goods

White goods include refrigerators, ranges, stoves, freezers, air conditioners, water heaters, another other domestic large appliances. Because these need to be disassembled by hand because of environmentally harmful materials, five stickers are required to be affixed before they will be removed on your regular garbage pick-up day.

Recycling

Recycling is free when put in recycling bins that can be purchased at City Hall for $8.00. Please help keep our neighborhoods clean by placing heavy recyclables on top, which keeps the lighter items from blowing out of the bins and into our yards. The following are examples of acceptable and unacceptable recycling items:

*Plastic grocery bags can be recycled in many grocery stores. Jewel will accept these grocery bags back for recycling.

For other items such as light bulbs, batteries, oil, and other hazardous waste, please click  the link below. 

DuPage County 2011 Recycling Guide

Recycle Your Holiday Lights

Don't know what to do with the strands of Christmas lights that are tangled, broken or have lost their glow? Don’t throw them in the garbage - recycle them! The City of Darien has partnered with Elgin Recycling to offer our residents free recycling of holiday lights! All light colors and strand lengths will be accepted. Items include mini-lights (Italian lights), C7 lights, C9 lights, rope lights, LED lights, and extension cords. Please - no CFLs. From November 26, 2011 through February 10, 2012 you may bring your lights to the Darien Police Department lobby at 1710 Plainfield Road Monday through Friday from 6:00am to 10:00pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 7:00am to 3:00pm. For more information please call 630-353-8115 or visit www.elginrecycling.com

New Illinois Law Bans Electronics from Your Trash

Starting Jan. 1, 2012, Illinois law will make it illegal for you to throw your electronics in the garbage. This law seeks to prevent dangerous substances contained in electronics from infiltrating our water supply and soil when they end up in landfills. For places you may recycle electronics in DuPage county please visit their website.

Medication Drop-Offs:

Traces of prescription and over the counter medications are now showing up in treated water. Many people are unaware of that disposing of unwanted medication down a drain can result in traces being found in their water supply and land. This is a growing concern and alternative measures to help people get rid of their unwanted medications are being provided. The DuPage County Health Department and a dozen communities have established a secure method to collect and safely destroy unwanted drugs.

Last month, the County established the RxBox Program. Disposal containers were set up at the DuPage Sherriff’s Office and other local police departments. When the communities have collected enough materials, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) picks up and incinerates it in a safe way. There is no charge to drop off any pharmaceutical at any of the sites.

RxBox Drop off Locations:

• Addison - Police Department
  3 Friendship Plana
• Burr Ridge - outside Police Department entrance
  7600 S. County Line Road
• Carol Stream – inside Police Department entrance
• 500 N. Gary Ave.
• Glendale Heights – lower level lobby, Police Dept.
  300 Civic Center Plaza
• Lisle – inside police department lobby doors
  5040 Lincoln Ave
• Naperville – Fire Station No. 4
  1971 Brookdale Rd.
• Oak Brook – Village Hall near Police Dept.
  1200 Oak Brook Road
• Wheaton – inside Police Department lobby
  900 W. Liberty Drive
• Wood Dale – outside Police Department
  404 W. Liberty Drive.
• DuPage County Sheriff’s Office
  501 N. County Farm Road