SIDNEY -- An ACE open house will be held at the city hall 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Monday, March 18.

"On Monday, the 18th, from 8 to 10, we are going to hold an open house right here in this room. Anybody that has questions on the ACE program, please come. We will try to get the answers as fast as we can. If we don't have the answers, we will find them," Mike Palmer said at the March 12 city council meeting.

Palmer is the city's electricity superintendent and Sidney's representative on the ACE (Public Alliance for Community Energy) board of directors. 

He said residents and businesses should be receiving their selection packet to decide what natural gas supplier to contract with.

"All eligible residents and businesses should be receiving their selection packets from Blackhills Energy. The packet should be arriving, really any time from mid-March to late-March is the time frame. The next official selection period is April 4th to the 24th. Again, we would request that and have the customers look at ACE, but we also want them to pick the best one for them," he said. 

He said it is important for customers to make their own choice.

"One thing we just really want to stress is you need to pick. Do not default. Default rates are almost always typically higher. They need to pick one of their selections. This year, I believe there are eight people, eight companies in the campaign," he said.