The flap over Berlin’s electric rate miscue turned out to be somewhat less exciting than the major municipal malfunction it originally appeared to be.
This was a case of a misunderstanding between town officials and Booth & Associates, the company with which it contracts to advise it on the operation 0f its electric utility. That advice includes telling the town when it needs to fire up its generators to put power back into the grid to avoid paying peak prices to its provider via a process called “peak shaving.”
That didn’t happen, according to town officials, because Booth apparently thought these peak-shaving opportunities occurred only in the summer and didn’t have one in November included in its schedule.
The result, as everyone now knows, was that Berlin consumers paid what they would have owed under optimum circumstances instead of what they truly owed at that peak rate.
That was, by all admissions, a bad and costly mistake, especially considering that Booth’s job is to keep an eye on such things so Berlin consumers don’t have to pay more than necessary for their electricity.
This was not, however, the fault of the town, which rightly figured that it had handed over to its consultants the matter of power management. There would be no point, after all, in monitoring the monitor, when Booth had already proved its worth to the town through services already rendered.
Although it might be argued that Berlin officials should have alerted consumers immediately once it discovered the problem, it was better in this instance to work out a solution so they could deliver a bad news/good news announcement.
The additional $2 month on the electric bill to cover that unpaid balance isn’t the worst thing that could have happened given the scope of the mistake.
In addition, town officials shifted some of the responsibility for watching the peak shaving calendar from Booth to its other partner in the electricity business, American Municipal Power Inc.
As it is, the town has done what needed to be done – it lessened the blow to consumers, dealt with the firm that made the mistake and instituted another layer of protection. Its response was well thought out and appropriate.
This was a case of a misunderstanding between town officials and Booth & Associates, the company with which it contracts to advise it on the operation 0f its electric utility. That advice includes telling the town when it needs to fire up its generators to put power back into the grid to avoid paying peak prices to its provider via a process called “peak shaving.”
That didn’t happen, according to town officials, because Booth apparently thought these peak-shaving opportunities occurred only in the summer and didn’t have one in November included in its schedule.
The result, as everyone now knows, was that Berlin consumers paid what they would have owed under optimum circumstances instead of what they truly owed at that peak rate.
That was, by all admissions, a bad and costly mistake, especially considering that Booth’s job is to keep an eye on such things so Berlin consumers don’t have to pay more than necessary for their electricity.
This was not, however, the fault of the town, which rightly figured that it had handed over to its consultants the matter of power management. There would be no point, after all, in monitoring the monitor, when Booth had already proved its worth to the town through services already rendered.
Although it might be argued that Berlin officials should have alerted consumers immediately once it discovered the problem, it was better in this instance to work out a solution so they could deliver a bad news/good news announcement.
The additional $2 month on the electric bill to cover that unpaid balance isn’t the worst thing that could have happened given the scope of the mistake.
In addition, town officials shifted some of the responsibility for watching the peak shaving calendar from Booth to its other partner in the electricity business, American Municipal Power Inc.
As it is, the town has done what needed to be done – it lessened the blow to consumers, dealt with the firm that made the mistake and instituted another layer of protection. Its response was well thought out and appropriate.