Huntley voters next month will decide whether to empower the village with the authority to negotiate lower electricity rates on their behalf.

The municipal electrical aggregation advisory referendum will appear on the Tuesday, March 20, primary election ballot for 2012. The Huntley Village Board on Nov. 10, 2011, approved a resolution placing the referendum on the spring ballot.

Municipal aggregation allows local governments to bundle — or aggregate — residential and small retail electric accounts together to buy electricity at a group rate. Municipalities can do this on their own, or in conjunction with other municipalities or consortiums.

The practice is similar to how communities negotiate contracts for waste disposal and cable television.

If the village contracts with a new power generating company, ComEd would continue to handle customer billing and outage responses. ComEd distributes electricity, but does not generate it.

Since August 2009, Illinois legislation gives communities the authority to bring residents and small businesses together to buy electricity as a group and negotiate a rate.

The opt-out program — which Huntley seeks to establish — must be approved by a referendum and includes all eligible customers, unless they choose not to participate in the program. Residents can “opt out” after bids are received and the rates and supplier are identified.