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Getting Energized
Town first in state to
join energy co-op
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Business New Haven
2/7/2000
By: Michael C. Bingham
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The town of Chester has become the first municipality in Connecticut to join an energy cooperative designed to negotiate favorable rates from utility companies in the wake of energy restructuring.
As an organizing partner of the Hartford-based Connecticut Energy Cooperative Inc. (CEC), the Connecticut River valley community will have the option to purchase CEC products and services. In addition, all Chester residents may become lifetime members of the cooperative for a $20 fee.
The CEC was formed to harness the buying power of a group of businesses, institutions and, now, municipalities to secure bulk energy rates from Connecticut's newly restructured energy companies.
Explains town First Selectman Martin L. Heft, “Chester's decision to join the [CEC] is based upon our desire to save money for the town, give our residents an easy way to share in the benefits of electric energy deregulation and provide the town with the greatest flexibility and as much choice as possible.”
While Chester cannot switch its electricity supplier until July 1 (an option that became available to “distressed” Connecticut communities on January 1), the cooperative will begin working immediately with town officials to identify ways to reduce energy consumption. Through CEC's Innovation, Conservation & Efficiency (ICE) program, energy audits will be performed on all town buildings, followed by recommendations on how energy use can be reduced.
“The cleanest, greenest form of energy is the energy you don't use,” says Heft, “which translates to the pollution you do not create.”
The town and its residents who join the cooperative will also have a say in its operation. As a cooperative, the CEC exists to benefit its members: Excess revenues are returned to members in the form of increased benefits and services as well as through a patronage fund. Adds CEC General Manager Larry Union, “Joining the CEC will lead to many opportunities for the average person to lower [his] energy use and thus provide immediate savings.
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