In addition to growing financial reserves, the city is working to contain costs for energy, the release continued. It said the expected bill for all the city’s energy in 2020 is $59.5 million, up from $55.6 million in 2019 and $52.5 million in 2018.
"Several factors contribute to these increased costs, including the relatively low cost of energy on the open market throughout the year, the large amount of energy the city is obligated to purchase beyond what is needed to serve Georgetown electric customers, and challenges associated with the city’s energy providers generating and transmitting energy to the statewide grid," the release said.
In 2019 the city worked to improve the finances of the electric utility to account for increased energy costs, which included selling assets, increasing rates, decreasing expenses and completing a management assessment, the release said. It continued that based on that assessment, the city is finalizing a new risk policy and retaining a new team to manage the energy contracts.
"The City is currently in negotiations with Shell Energy North America and Tenaska Power Services to manage the City’s energy portfolio, with a final contract expected to go to City Council for approval in December," the release said, adding the city hired a new general manager for its electric utility in October.
Earlier this year, the city sold renewable energy credits, or RECs, which resulted in more than $700,000 of additional revenue for the electric utility.
“The sale of the RECs does affect Georgetown’s status as a 100 percent renewable electric utility,” City Manager David Morgan said in the news release. “Right now it is more important that we stabilize the utility’s finances than maintain our renewable energy status.”
The city’s policy for its energy portfolio is for 30 percent of Georgetown’s energy to come from renewable sources.
