PRINCETON — The Bureau County Board is discussing whether to put an electrical aggregation referendum on the April 2013 ballot for voters in unincorporated areas of the county.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Law Committee Chairman Mary Jane Marini said Rock River Energy Services representative Chuck Dana met recently with the law committee and asked the county board to reconsider a possible referendum in time for the April 9, 2013, consolidation election ballot. Rock River Energy representatives had addressed the board in August asking for the electrical aggregation referendum to be placed on the November ballot, but at that time, the county board decided more time was needed to research the issue before placing it on an election ballot.

As reported earlier in the Bureau County Republican, the proposed referendum would authorize the county board to solicit bids for customers who want to participate in an electric aggregation agreement. The stated premise behind an electrical aggregation is that electric providers will bid more competitively when groups of customers band together.