Urbana City Council members decided Monday night to join a Chamber of Commerce co-op. Members agreed this would be a wise move in order to ultimately save the city money from increasing electricity rates.

An initial investment of 36 hundred dollars by the February 2nd deadline would secure Urbana’s place in the co-op. If the city doesn’t join, the projected increase in the electricity bill for the City Government Building alone would be 40 thousand dollars. Urbana’s Director of Public Works Bill Gray feels the co-op will be successful in lowering the rates.

“By joining in with other businesses and other cities we would hopefully use those group’s electric needs and we would go out into the open market and hopefully receive a lower rate than what is the default rate.”

The council is planning to conduct further research, but many members are confident that the co-op will be the best path to ensuring lower utility rates.