Factbox –

Yearly Savings:

Phase I: $656,000

Phase II: $1,322,000

Phase II enhancement: $315,000

As a result of the expiration of a 10-year-old rate freeze on Jan. 1, Eastern was expecting its electric bills to more than double.

But thanks to collaboration with four other state schools, the bill will increase by 35.2 percent.

“Am I happy with a 35 percent increase? No,” said Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs. “But am I happier with 35 than 100 percent? Yes.”

Eastern worked with Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Western Illinois University and Illinois State University to negotiate a deal with MidAmerican Energy.

The Iowa-based energy company won the contract with the schools in October and reached a final agreement late last year. The agreement provides for 24 months of purchasing electricity form MidAmerican.

This will bring the total cost of electricity on campus from $1.8 million annually to $2.4 million, as opposed to the originally projected cost of $3.5 million a year.

Residential customers have been expecting about a 35 percent increase, but Eastern is considered a small commercial organization and subject to the higher rates.

One of the companies that lost the contract was Ameren, the schools’ previous provider.

“This is a little strange,” Cooley said. “All the universities (in the cooperative) were ex-Ameren customers. We’d thought they’d win the bid.”

But there was no guarantee that Ameren would automatically win the bid.

“MidAmerican came in lowest, so they won the bidding,” said Gary Reed, director of facilities planning and management.

Eastern has saved money by improving its energy efficiency.

This includes cost-saving measures since 1995 when the first attempts were made to reduce utility costs on campus.

One major change was the replacement or alteration of 10,525 lighting fixtures to be more energy efficient.

“We’ve been very proactive in reducing our costs,” Cooley said.

All changes had to pay for themselves within 10 years because of then-current legislation.

According to the business affairs office, the annual savings were estimated at $656,000, and showed that further upgrades were viable.

The next stage came in two parts. The first phase, done in 2001, saved $1.3 million annually and included the installation of water conservation showerheads and pipe insulation. The second phase, which was started in 2003, saved $315,000 annually.

The university has already made most of the easier cost-saving upgrades.

“We’ve already taken what we call the low-hanging fruit,” Reed said.

However, there is a new source of savings available to the university, because of a state bill passed in July 2006. Facility upgrades now have to pay for themselves in 20 years instead of 10.

“It means we can do things like replace windows,” Cooley said. “Windows won’t pay for themselves in 10 years, but they might in 20.”

Cooley and Reed are both proud of their accomplishments in energy savings. Of all the state schools, Eastern pays the lowest in energy costs per square foot, spending only $.99, opposed to the average of $1.34, Cooley said.

This means that costs don’t have to rise drastically in places like tuition, Cooley said.

However, the 6.95 percent increase in student room and board does include the increasing costs of utilities, including electricity.