ZELIENOPLE — The Zelienople borough council on Monday, Jan. 8, voted unanimously to renew its part in the Northern Power Pool Agreement. Under this partnership, the nonprofit joint action agency American Municipal Power manages the power needs of Zelienople and hundreds of other municipalities in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Unlike most of Butler County, Zelienople does not receive power from West Penn Power. The borough maintains responsibility for providing energy to its residents itself through a municipal power company, while relying on AMP for other matters.

“AMP handles all of our power purchases, all of our power scheduling, and this agreement formalizes all that,” said borough manager Andrew Spencer. “This helps coordinate all the energy transmission and generation delivery services that go with purchasing power.”

As a joint action company, AMP has the responsibility of negotiating lower electricity rates with suppliers and selling it to its members.

“They do generate some power, so they are a power company in a sense, but they also schedule power demands and things that all the municipalities have,” Spencer said. “They also offer many other programs that these municipalities participate in.”

According to Spencer, the agreement with AMP has been in place for “many years,” and Zelienople renewed it on Monday night.

Along with Zelienople, the Northern Power Pool Agreement includes more than 40 other municipalities in Pennsylvania and Ohio. As a whole, according to its website, AMP serves a total of 139 municipalities in nine states.

“We'll need to be in that power pool to get the best deals on power as it's sold and credited back to us,” Spencer said.