Council discusses solar program billing obstacle; staff to follow up with utility

Council members discussed a billing issue complicating a city solar project application because the city's electric account is consolidated, and program staff said they prefer individual-meter bills to proceed.

A council speaker said they requested individual billing from AEP but were told the city’s account is consolidated and individual bills are not available. Program staff reportedly told the city they could work with the consolidated bills after further review. The transcript shows a planned follow-up call on the matter at 2:00 p.m. on the Monday after the meeting to continue coordination.

Council members expressed concern about a previously mentioned program cutoff date that prompted outreach; however, the meeting record did not clearly specify a final application deadline, and participants said the deadline had been pushed back though the new date was not clearly given on the record.

The exchange was recorded as discussion and direction to continue coordination with the utility and program administrators; no formal council action, approval or funding was recorded on the solar item during the March 3 meeting.