Delaware County, Pennsylvania, located just west of Philadelphia, has signed a two-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) with PPL Energy Plus, according to the Delaware County Daily Times. Under the agreement, PPL will provide power to all county-owned buildings at a fixed price of $0.06308 per kWh. This edged out bids from three other providers offering rates of $0.06317 to $0.06588 per kWh.

Switching to a competitive supplier is expected to save the county $30,000 in 2016. That amounts to about 1.3 percent of Delware County’s expected energy expenditures of $2.3 million this year. Moreover, locking in a fixed rate shields the county from potential price increases. Not only does this reduce risk, but it can be extremely useful for planners seeking to budget for the next two years.