by David Croyle
As Council members in Elderton Borough look for savings in their 2011 budget, it appears it was as close as their light switch. Council approved changing electric companies that they expect to save them as much as $1,200 next year.
Elderton Borough Secretary Jennifer Redick discusses changing electric companies with other borough council members.
According to Secretary Jennifer Redick, the borough currently pays 9.66 cents per kilowatt hour for street lights through Allegheny Power. That price varies per building and usage. However, under a new contract with energy supplier KeyTex, the new price will be 6.8 cents until May 2011, then reduced to 6.1cents in June 2011. The contract with KeyTex will run through December 2013.
“It would be roughly $1,250 in savings per year,” Redick said.
Redick did her homework before recommending KeyTex.
“I called all 43 boroughs and townships in Armstrong County. Four of them went with KeyTex. Ford Cliff is waiting to see what we do. Freeport went with Direct Energy, but they do not have utilities in our area,” she said.
“We will not only change street lights, but also the traffic light and borough building,” Mayor Larry Prugh said. “It would all come under one bill. We send Allegheny Power our electric bill, they would take out distribution costs, and pass the balance to KeyTex.”
The mayor attended a special meeting on electricity costs conducted by the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission recently at Lenape Tech. “The PUC told us that residential customers will see a 2% increase while commercial customers will see a 2% decrease. 2% does not make up that kind of money,” he said.