Freeholders say initiative will save on electricity costs

MOUNT HOLLY - The Burlington County Board of Freeholders is trying to spark new interest in a once-failed plan to create a countywide electricity-purchasing cooperative.
   The freeholders are inviting all municipal governments, school boards, utility authorities and other public entities in the county to form a cooperative that would seek reduced electricity rates as early as this fall.

   The idea is to take advantage of the competition that is allowed by the states 1999 energy-deregulation initiative. Along with deregulating the utility industry, the initiative also called for mandatory energy discounts over a three-year term that ended earlier this month. County officials are predicting energy bills for August will rise by as much as 15 percent now that the discounts are no longer required.

   The freeholders theorize if they band together with other governments into a large cooperative, energy companies will compete for the right to serve the cooperative. The board believes competition will lower the cost of energy for all participants. Membership would be extended to governments only. The cooperative is not intended for residential users.

   "Our plan is to recapture any available savings, not just for county government, but for every municipality and school that becomes a member of the cooperative," Freeholder Director William Haines Jr. said. "The more towns, schools and other entities that participate in the cooperative, then the better our chance of achieving maximum savings which, in the grand scheme of things, get passed back to the taxpayer."

   The freeholders tried to organize a cooperative back in 2000, but the more than 50-member group never received any worthwhile bids from energy companies.

   The market for cooperatives is much better now because the mandatory discounts are no longer in place, said Michael Fischette of Concord Engineering, a Voorhees consulting firm the freeholders are paying to manage the project.

   The mandatory discounts created a 'false market' that eliminated the incentive for most energy companies to bid, which took away most of the competition, Fischette said. He's expecting a lot more interest in a Burlington County cooperative package that could be put out to bid as early as next month.

   "This is what deregulation is all about," he said.

   If the cooperative receives acceptable bids this time around, a deal could be signed with a utility company as early as October.