City seeking proposals for third-party review of energy management

The city posted tonight that they are seeking help in both managing the City’s energy portfolio and for a comprehensive review of the City’s management practices related to purchasing and managing energy. Georgetown

Securing long-term energy contracts that provide more energy than customers currently need is a standard practice among city-owned utilities. As a fast-growth community, these contracts allow the City to grow into increased energy demand. The contracts also reduce the number of times the City has to buy energy in a potentially volatile marketplace.

It is important to note that it is not the type of energy the City has contracted for, but the amount of energy the City is contracted to purchase, that is the current challenge. The crux of the issue hinges on the large amount of energy the City must clear to the market that is not currently consumed in Georgetown.

When the price of energy decreases, the City is still obligated to pay the price for energy it secured in the contracts. Any energy that is not used by Georgetown’s electric utility customers is cleared to a statewide marketplace.

The deadline to submit a proposals to review managing the City’s energy portfolio is 2 p.m. on March 7. The deadline to submit questions is 5 p.m. on Feb. 22.

Other than the fact that this appears to be too little too late to help the present rate payers, this may be a good idea if they enlist help from outside the municipal utility universe.