Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Sunday, July 18, 2010
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Martinsville Mayor Kim Adkins wants city officials and electric customers alike to have the same information about the city’s participation in American Municipal Power (AMP) generation projects.
She has asked City Manager Clarence Monday and city Electric Department Superintendent Dennis Bowles to update council members and the public on the status of the city’s participation in the projects during a Martinsville City Council meeting Aug. 10.
Bowles said he will not be able to attend the July 27 council meeting due to another commitment. The next council meeting after that will be Aug. 10.
Adkins was elected to the council in May. The council appointed her mayor on July 1.
She said she understands that city residents have a lot of concerns about the city’s participation in the AMP projects.
“The council shares those concerns, just like the citizens,” she said. “I share the concerns” as well.
She said she wants officials “to give the city a complete picture of how the city acquires electricity.”
“We need to get AMP to explain every dollar” that so far has been spent on the projects, said Councilman Danny Turner.
As part of the Aug. 10 presentation, Adkins said she wants to see a “fact sheet” summarizing “where we started (and) where we are now” with AMP projects and “our next steps” in handling recent concerns about them.
The fact sheet will need to be updated regularly as developments in the city’s involvement with AMP occurs, she said.
Concerns to which she referred include a power plant project in Illinois for which the cost has more than doubled and a similar project in Ohio which AMP terminated due to higher-than-expected costs. There are no plans to cease the Illinois project, of which AMP is a part-owner. (See related story.)
The Illinois plant’s power production capacity will be 1,600 megawatts. A megawatt equals one million watts.
Martinsville will be entitled to 5 megawatts of that power, Bowles said.
Due to various factors involved in construction, he said, “I don’t think you can go into any project of that magnitude without expecting an increase (in the cost) of some kind.”
“Everything seems to have cost overruns” today, Councilman Mark Stroud said. They seem “normal for any type of project of that magnitude.”
Power purchased from AMP “has the potential to cost more” due to the increase in the Illinois plant’s cost, said Monday.
Turner said he thinks the rising cost of the Illinois plant eventually will cause the city to have to pay more for wholesale electricity.
“From a common sense standpoint, you would think” it would, Adkins said. But that is not necessarily true because many factors go into determining power prices, she said.
Councilman Gene Teague agreed. He said construction costs are “a small component” of purchased power costs.
“We don’t yet know” how the construction cost hike will affect the city’s power costs, Teague said. “The power market has a lot of volatility.”
What city officials do know, he said, is that “the cost of purchased power ... is going to rise in the future.” |
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