Illinois residents are seeing the benefits of collective buying power. More than 220,000 residences signed on to participate in the municipal aggregation program, including Bethalto residents, have all seen a major reduction in the cost of energy at home. In the planning stages, Good Energy predicted residents would save between 15 and 25 percent per kilowatt hour, but because so many people signed on and because Good Energy was able to help negotiate a much lower energy cost, the savings are close to 36 percent per kilowatt hour. What must have looked to consumers like an optimistic goal, now appears to have been a conservative one.