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 The building permit was rescinded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