PMLD thanks all of its customers for their continuing support of public power. PMLD is a non-profit public service corporation, whose primary goal is to provide reliable and low cost electric service to the residents and businesses of the Town of Princeton. Throughout 2004, PMLD continued to upgrade the electrical distribution system, install new electric services, develop the wind farm project, and operate under tight financial constraints. PMLD is a Town asset, working as a separate governmental unit, with its own Board of Light Commissioners, policies, and budget serving the needs and providing value to our ratepayers.
Rates
By the end of 2004, PMLD provided service to 1,380 residential, 5 Farm, 99 commercial, and 14 municipal customers. 87% of the town’s energy use is due to residential customers. PMLD customers consumed approximately 16 million kWh of energy in 2004, and the average home used approximately 800 kWh per month.
PMLD continues to provide lower cost service as compared to Investor Owned Utilities (IOU). The average home in Princeton spends approximately $98.00 per month on electricity. If you lived outside our electric service territory, you could have paid more for the same amount of electricity. The electricity rate for residential customers is approximately $0.122 per kWh.
PMLD has had only six rate increases over the past 20 years. This represents an average rate increase of only 2.7% per year, less than the average annual rate of inflation! PMLD’s number one priority is to maintain the lowest possible rates, while providing the most reliable electric service possible.
Wind Farm Project
The Wind Farm Project continues to utilize much of our time and resources. PMLD is committed to successfully completing this community project as soon as possible. PMLD finished the permitting process and actually received a building permit in 2004. The building permit was rescinded due to legal challenges based on the Site Plan Review process. PMLD is confident these legal challenges will be dismissed shortly. The wind farm project demonstrates our commitment to renewable energy, reduces our dependency on the fossil fuels that cause pollution, reduces our Town’s energy costs, and most importantly, balances the environmental and community impacts. Please continue to support this very important project.
Besides providing low cost and reliable energy, PMLD performed many other services for the Town and our customers in 2004.
· Discounted the cost of Town owned streetlights 17% or $1,500
· Installed the new underground electric service to the Town Hall worth $13,000
· Installed the new underground electric service to the Highway Barn and Princeton Park worth $20,000
· Installed holiday decorations, Town Common lights, and other banners and signs
· Included Town related mailings in monthly bills to save postage and handling costs
· Sponsored electrical safety classes for our children at the Thomas Prince School
· Provided storage and meeting space for the Princeton baseball league, Friends of the Library, Princeton girl scouts cookies, and Town Selectmen
· Offered cost effective and energy efficient electric hot water heaters
· Offered $100 rebates for energy efficient refrigerators and dishwashers
· Acted as Town wide battery collection and disposal site
· Volunteer for Wachusett Earth-day household waste pick-up and collection day
Reliability
Delivering and maintaining reliable energy to every customer in Princeton is one of our main goals. PMLD continued to trim and remove trees that could damage our electric distribution system or cause outages. PMLD completed many upgrade projects to the electric distribution system such as installing new utility poles and fiberglass insulators on Mountain Road. The total number of town wide outages has decreased significantly as compared to previous years. PMLD will continue to improve the reliability of our electric system.
PMLD’s commitment to protecting the environment and purchasing renewable energy continued through FY2004. Generating and purchasing renewable energy makes a difference in our community. In FY2004 PMLD purchased approximately 15% of its energy from various hydroelectric power plants in the region. This renewable energy is purchased at very favorable costs compared to market and contract power costs.
Our existing Wind Farm did not generate any renewable energy for the Town in FY2004. The existing wind farm is 20 years old and has reached the end of its useful life. It is too expensive to maintain and operate the old units. PMLD will remove these units once the upgrade project begins.
PMLD will continue to upgrade and maintain its electrical distribution system and explore new services, such as high speed Internet access and cable television in 2005. Please come by the Light Department and let us know how we are doing. Thank you again for continuing to support PMLD.
Respectfully Submitted,
Board of Light Commissioners; Bradford Hubbard, Scott Bigelow, and Don Steadman