Carbon County is preparing to try to save on its electric bill next year.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners agreed to authorize Apollo Edison of Spring City, through Ingram Engineering of West Chester to conduct an online electric auction for the county.

Commissioner William O’Gurek said that the auction will take place sometime either later this year or early next year under the new board.

Carbon County began holding electric auctions following the 2010 electric deregulation and rate increases. With the deregulation, the county would have been paying PPL Electric around 30 percent more for its electricity than it had been.

In 2009, Carbon paid $700,000 — between 8 and 11 cents per kilowatt hour — to power all of its buildings.

The current contract, held by TriEagle Energy of The Woodlands, Texas, is in effect until March 31, 2020. Under the terms of the fixed 36-month contract, which was secured in March 2017 by electric auction, Carbon is paying 6.073 cents per kilowatt hour before gross receipts tax. The action is saving the county approximately $165,000 annually.

Carbon County, with its over 40 accounts for all county-owned buildings, as well as buildings rented by the county where electricity is not supplied, uses approximately 2.7 million kilowatt-hours annually.

This will be the fifth time Carbon has bid out its electricity.