BREAKING: Electric City Power fined by regulatory agency
The Public Service Commission has voted to impose an administrative penalty on Electric City Power for failing to obey a state clean-energy law. I don’t have word yet on the dollar amount of the fine, but it was imposed by a unanimous vote (no small feat given the PSC itself is occasionally raucous) this past Tuesday, Nov. 24.
The fine results from a 2005 law championed by Jon Tester in the legislature. In an attempt to expand and promote renewable-energy infrastructure, the law currently requires all utilities to purchase at least 5% of their electricity from renewable-energy sources certified by the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System, WREGIS. (That number ramps up to 10% in the coming years.)
Agree or disagree with the law, it is the law. The City claimed that the waste-water treatment center’s co-generation plant qualifies as a renewable resource, but dropped the ball and never submitted the paperwork to WREGIS for certification, as the administrative law requires.
The result? A big fine, and the only defense is that “We were ignorant of the law…” I sympathize, but no one ever said the power industry was not a morass of state and federal regulations that would ding the inexperienced every step of the way. It isn’t easy to run a power company, and the City clearly does not possess the competence to run one.
The consultants, incidentally, were made aware of this pending issue by Mary Jolley (so she tells me), but they apparently chose not to mention this mishandling or its possible consequences in the report.
This… ‘The consultants, incidentally, were made aware of this pending issue by Mary Jolley (so she tells me),
I spoke to the city manager about it to make sure they were getting all information. It did not seem that the city manager was aware of the particulars. I don’t think I alerted the consultants.
I just now, checked my sent emails – that is how I would have communicated with them.
Which city manager? The real one or her wet behind the ears underling?
Ah, I thought you’d sent the consultants this info for some reason. Well, one way or another, anyone reading the ECP minutes for the past year would have been aware of it.
I am not sure anymore as everything between the city and SME is confusing and now relocated to the top secret black lock box. I believe I read somewhere, when these SME contracts were initially reviewed and acted on, that the production and green credits from the cities co-generation plant were signed over to SME and they are probably NOW claiming them thus leaving the city out on the wrong end of a limb while SME continues to saw away at the taxpayers expense.
I don’t know anything about this law, Travis, but if we’re not allowed to pass this through in rates, who else will pay for it?
The city HAD the opportunity to buy very affordable, firmed wind energy WAY back in 2006, but ignored concerned citizens entirely. They could have bought a small block to meet the law and have shown leadership…….
I do not see how the sewage plant generating green energy for their own use can count as this energy as it is more than likely not supplied back into the grid. If I remember right from years gone by, the sewage plant uses methane gas, produced through the sewage treatment process to run equipment to supply power to the plant and only the plant. This cuts down on usage of electricity from the grid and also lowers the plants electric bill.
It’s only an assumption, but I take it one of the reasons the co-generation plant wasn’t registered with WREGIS is that it would not necessarily qualify, for the reasons Mark J points out above.
The city gave away the sewage co-gen to SME so ECP could buy back the power.
The Co Gen thing at the Wastwater Treatment plant is a big fat money loser.
Not a surprise when a reason it was proposed is so that SME could get some renewable energy credits. Is SME using it as part of their REC requirements??
The city tried to use them but wanted the PSC to trust them that they were not being counted twice. In the filing with the PSC the ECP Director said that there were no REC’s out there to buy for 2008. Not at this date. Oh well its not my money. Oh wait it is my money and yours if you are a GF resident.