Although they've tried before and lost, municipal leaders in Montgomery County are optimistic that their residents will soon have the ability to purchase electricity directly from city, town and village governments.

Takoma Park Mayor Kathy Porter and her counterparts from nine county municipalities signed a letter of intent Tuesday, letting the state know that the cities and towns want to form a purchasing pool to buy electricity on the open market.

Following the letter-signing ceremony in Takoma Park's Municipal Building, several mayors, council members and city government from both Montgomery and Prince George's counties testified before the Senate Finance Committee in Annapolis, urging lawmakers to support the initiative.

The process, known as municipal electricity aggregation, would put jurisdictions ranging in size from Washington Grove (about 530 residents) to Gaithersburg (with almost 57,400 residents) in direct competition with Pepco, the incumbent electricity provider in the area. The municipalities have tried to get legislation allowing aggregation through the General Assembly in past years, only to have the measure stall after lobbying efforts by Pepco.

But things look different this year, according to Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo, who joined Porter for the letter-signing ceremony in Takoma Park. With local governments working together to buy electricity for as many as 130,000 residents in Montgomery County, "that is tremendous purchasing power," Giammo said.

Though the measure allowing electricity aggregation has failed in past years, the legislation offered this year includes a provision requiring the Maryland Public Service Commission to verify that the aggregation will lower electricity rates for local consumers. "If we don't achieve meaningful savings, the Public Service Commission will not allow us to aggregate," Giammo said.

There also is a phase-in provision in the bill before the House of Delegates that would slow the rate at which local governments could begin aggregating electricity.

Although he couldn't provide an exact number, Giammo said he expects electricity rates for municipal customers could be between 10 percent and 30 percent lower than current rates. He noted that the legislation before the General Assembly requires that the cities and towns operate their aggregation business as a non-profit venture, recouping only enough money to pay for administrative costs.

In addition to getting a lower rate for electricity, Porter said aggregation also would allow local governments to provide a better mix of renewable energy sources to customers. A group of municipalities could require, for example, that a fixed percentage of the energy they purchase come from solar- or wind-powered generators.

Although House Bill 670 and Senate Bill 39 have some differences from previous years, one thing that is the same is a requirement that residents would automatically get electricity from their municipality unless they opt-out of the program and decide to stay with Pepco.

Pepco spokeswoman Debbi Jarvis said the company likes the concept of aggregation, but it is staunchly opposed to the opt-out provision, supporting instead a program where customers would have to opt-in to the municipal buying pools.

A program like that supported by the municipalities would take away customer choice, she said, which defeats the purpose of electricity deregulation. "It basically slams [municipal residents] into a government-run program, requiring them to send in a written statement in order to get out."

She also said arguments that aggregation helps customers save money may not be accurate, especially since low-income customers on special electricity plans would not be able to join the aggregation pool.

However, Giammo and Porter believe the opt-in program supported by Pepco would all but require municipalities to market the program to their residents since each household would have to choose the locally sold electricity, creating an additional financial burden and reducing the number of customers in the purchasing pool. "Opt-in aggregation isn't really practicable" for the municipalities, Giammo said, adding that it would be easy for residents who want to continue purchasing electricity from Pepco to get out of the municipal program.

Municipal aggregation has worked in other parts of the county, Porter said, including Ohio, home to the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, the largest aggregation pool in the county. According to NOPEC's Web site, 112 cities and towns, including Cleveland, use an opt-out system to buy electricity for their residents.

Montgomery and Prince George's county's mayors realize they could be facing a tough battle in the General Assembly, and they're urging residents to write their legislators in support of the municipal aggregation bill.

As of Monday, 20 of the 32 members of the Montgomery County delegation to the General Assembly were listed as sponsors of the House and Senate bills, including District 20 Dels. Sheila Ellis Hixson (D) and Gareth E. Murray (D) of Silver Spring and Del. Peter V.R. Franchot (D) of Takoma Park.

In addition to Takoma Park and Rockville, 11 other local cities and towns signed the letter of intent Tuesday, including Brookeville, Chevy Chase Village , College Park, Gaithersburg, Garrett Park, Greenbelt, Kensington, Laurel, Laytonsville, Somerset and Washington Grove.