By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Caledonia will become greener…that is if a recently-approved plan developed by City Councilman Tom Murphy and city staff is successful.
The Caledonia City Council approved a plan that will bring the city into compliance with the State Department of Energy mandated Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) at the Jan. 25 meeting. All utility companies and municipalities that sell electricity to its residents must have a CIP in place.
Using a formula developed by the state, the city will budget $38,375 to help promote energy conservation through a number of ways.
• Residential and commercial bulb replacement will be accomplished with a $2 per bulb rebate. The city will budget $10,000 per year, which will allow for the replacement of 2,500 inefficient bulbs with compact florescent bulbs, with a limit of eight bulbs per household and business this year. The estimated savings would be approximately 165,000 KWH in the first year.
• Commercial and residential bulb and ballast replacements will be accomplished with a range of rebates from $1 to $2.50 for four to eight foot bulbs. Rebates for florescent ballasts would range from $1 to $1.75. The city would budget up to $5,000 per year for this portion of the program. “It is unknown what combination might be used by businesses, although preliminary, negotiable limits are $100 per business,” Murphy stated in the plan. The estimated savings would be at least 23,800 KWH.
• The city proposes to replace several old, inefficient air conditioners with two air conditioners at a cost of $10,000. The annual savings would be 460 KWH.
• The plan also calls for the replacing of the wiring and lighting in the city garage and reduce electric consumption by 9,280 KWH at a cost of $5,000.
• The city proposes a program of incentives to replace old, inefficient appliances. Currently, the city reimburses residents for the purchase of energy star appliances. There has been meager response to this because many residents are not aware of this program. Through direct mail and advertising, the city hopes participation will increase. The following list shows annual energy savings in parentheses. Estimates include 25 clothes washers (15,900 KWH), 25 room air conditioners (2,700 KWH), 25 refrigerators (4,800 KWH), 50 air conditioner tune-ups (5,000 KWH) and 109 central air conditioners (500 KWH). The reimbursement would be $25 per unit or service for a total projected cost of $3,375. The estimated savings for this portion of the plan would be 29,000 KWH.
Consultation
The city currently offers free consultation from its electricians to residents in the community who call with concerns about the electrical bill. Each call is answered with a visit to the home and if there is a problem, the source is identified and a remedy suggested. Presently there is an average of two home visits per month with the cost estimated at $125 per visit. With more visits from the electrical department, consumers will learn more about their habits and appliances and choose to make better choices with their electrical consumption.
Education
The city proposes to spend more than $1,250 in direct mail and possibly other advertisement to implement the plan. Educating the public will be the real key to the success of the plan.
In other council action:
Cost estimates for electric project
City Electrician Matt Blocker went over the cost estimates for the buried cable and pole replacement projects. PowerPlus has come up with a plan where the main feeder lines to the Foltz and Sunnyside subdivisions would be hooked up to the Wild Turkey substation. A series of step down transformers would convert the 7,200 volts running through the main feeder lines to the subdivisions down to 2,400 volts, which the existing lines could handle.
Blocker explained this work would take more circuits off the downtown substation, which was built in 1968, and connect them to the Wild Turkey substation, which was built in 2001.
Blocker added this work would make it easier to tract down breakdowns in the system.
The cost estimate for the Foltz Subdivision was $240,633, while the estimate for Sunnyside was $242,468.
PowerPlus recommended a third segment to this improvement project be done. That would be to replace poles along Marshall Street with new poles for overhead services, remove overhead transformers, and replace the existing pad-mounted transformers with dual voltage transformers that are needed so the equipment is rated for future voltage conversion to 7.2kV. The price tag on this portion of the project is $115,025.
The high voltage line upgrades would include over 6,000 feet of new lines. The council approved the plan and instructed PowerPlus to advertise the project for bids.
Poles would be spendy too
Blocker also reported that PowerPlus estimated the cost of running high-voltage lines on new power poles along backyard easements in the Foltz and Sunnyside subdivisions would cost approximately as much as going with the front-yard pedestal transformer route.
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