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electric

July 20, 2016

Residents, Council Set Up Town Hall to Further Discuss Electric Department

“Many of you are here because you want to have freedom of choice,” borough solicitor Ed Leymarie told a crowd of over 100 visitors at Monday’s council meeting. “But the Pennsylvania government took away that choice.” Leymarie was referring to a state law allowing municipalities with government electric departments to require residents to purchase power from them. Monday’s crowd stemmed from a Facebook group, “Standing Up to Ellwood Electric,” with over 1,000 members. At the agenda meeting on July 11, over 50 residents showed up to protest electric rates and customer service policies at the Ellwood Electric Department. This in…

July 18, 2016

Council, Residents Divided Over Electric Department

Last Monday’s council meeting highlighted a number of potential issues in the Ellwood City Borough Electric Department, namely customer service concerns and the advantages of private utilities over a municipal-owned utility service. As explained in a previous article, Ellwood City Borough has its own Electric Department, which belongs to a consortium of municipalities called American Municipal Power (AMP). The borough uses a consulting group, Utility Engineers, for its purchasing agreements, and in 2015 entered a five-year contract with an electric provider. The borough purchases electricity at a yearly rate of $.08529 per kilowatt (kWh). In turn, it sells electricity to…

July 12, 2016

In Depth: Residents Protest Electric Rates, Council Proposes Resolution Amending Rates

Over 50 residents attended Monday’s council agenda meeting to protest a spike in electric bills from May to June, forcing the meeting to be moved from council chambers to the auditorium. Council had forewarning of citizen unrest and had already prepared a preliminary resolution adjusting electric rates. Ellwood City Power and Light The Ellwood City Borough has a municipal-operated electric company, Ellwood City’s Power and Light. The borough purchases power from the American Municipal Power Supply [AMP] at a current rate of $.08529 per kilowatt and resells it to Ellwood citizens for a profit. Funds are subsequently transferred from the…