Ogden district reports spike, says gas shock cost $500,000 in one month; pushes preventative maintenance and controls to curb bills

Logan Murphy, the district construction and energy manager and certified energy manager, told the Ogden City School District board at its March work session that electricity and natural-gas costs have risen sharply in recent years and outlined steps the district is taking to limit exposure.

Murphy said nationwide electricity costs rose about 9.6% over the past three years and that Utah experienced larger increases, in part because Rocky Mountain Power requested a rate increase that could total about 30% over two years. He warned the board that volatility in the natural‑gas market produced an extreme short‑term hit to the district in January 2023: “we saw a $500,000 increase in 1 month on our natural gas bill.”

Those market conditions prompted the district to move some large facilities off month‑to‑month open‑market purchases and into negotiated block purchases with Summit Energy. Murphy said the negotiated blocks smooth cash flow: the district may pay slightly more in some months and less in others but avoids catastrophic single‑month bills. He also explained that utilities such as Dominion/Enbridge recover market losses over many months, which amplified statewide rate increases in 2023 and 2024.

Murphy gave a high‑level accounting of 2024 energy spending: roughly 52% of energy costs (about $1.7 million) were for electricity and about 31% (just over $1 million) were for natural gas; water/sewer and stormwater are other substantial line items, including about $210,000 paid annually to the city for stormwater management. He noted that some recently built schools — Liberty, Polk, Eastridge, and the Ben Lomond athletic center — are among the district’s lowest cost buildings per square foot because of newer construction, better insulation, modern mechanical equipment and, in several cases, rooftop solar.

Murphy identified the largest operational levers for savings: managing building temperature set points, preventative maintenance on boilers, pumps and filters, and smarter start/stagger controls to avoid utility demand charges. He gave concrete examples of operational costs: a typical mini fridge costs about $2 a month, a full‑size energy‑efficient refrigerator about $6 a month, classroom lighting roughly $5 a month, and a space heater $15–$50 a month depending on use. By contrast, he said, “an additional degree of heat above what our district standard set points are is 2 to $500 a month for that building.”

Murphy also described a growing utility charge type — the demand charge — which bills customers on their highest 15‑minute usage spike during a month. He warned that if the district’s night‑field lighting or other services were moved onto a rate plan that includes demand charges, a typical $300–$500 monthly power bill for a field could jump to roughly $2,000 a month. To avoid such spikes, he is working with the district’s controls contractor to stagger equipment startups and introduce buffers so multiple large pieces of equipment do not start simultaneously.

On renewable energy, Murphy said solar has reduced some exposure where the up‑front price made sense; the district sizes arrays to roughly an 80% offset of building demand to avoid overproducing energy that Rocky Mountain Power buys back at a very low rate. He said the district paused a full solar install at Hillcrest after bids for that project came in almost double other recent projects; the site was built “solar ready” so solar can be added if market conditions improve.

Board members asked about district‑campus metering and about how older buildings without building management systems are handled. Murphy said the district campus has many meters and mixed uses, so it requires additional analysis, and that older buildings rely more on custodial practice and preventive servicing because they lack the fine control of newer BMS‑equipped facilities.

Murphy closed by emphasizing preventative maintenance and better controls as the most reliable near‑term ways to reduce costs and avoid large rate shocks going forward.