The city of Morris has saved its residents and small businesses about $1.5 million in electric power costs since switching its power supplier about 13 months ago.

In April 2011, a referendum passed to allow the city to take bids on electricity supply for the city’s residential and small commercial use through an opt-out program. People receive their electricity bills from ComEd because ComEd is still the distributor, but the city now tells ComEd from where to get the electricity.

"The average home is saving $287 per year," said David Hoover, executive director of Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative (NIMEC), the electric purchasing co-operative the city utilized to find the lowest power supply rate.