Lansdale committee reviews electric-department plans: EV truck purchase, ordinance draft, deposit changes and apprenticeship program

The Lansdale Borough electric committee reported several operational items and policy proposals at the Feb. 5 work session, including a planned electric vehicle purchase, updates to the borough's electric ordinance, a proposed change to customer-deposit practices, a regional resilience study and a new apprenticeship accreditation for linemen.

Council members said the electric department plans to request purchase of a Ford Lightning electric service vehicle for metering and related work, not to exceed $58,000; the borough intends to power the vehicle from the Lansdale solar array and will pursue a potential state rebate of about $7,500 if available. Council members described the purchase as replacing a service vehicle and noted no fuel will be purchased for it.

The committee previewed a draft electric ordinance that would clarify that borough service ends at the street and that property owners would be responsible for repairs on private property beyond the street for certain "primary customers." Committee members said the change responds to a recent outage at the Educational Services Building where the borough repaired equipment that was ultimately on private property.

Committee members also discussed a proposal to eliminate new residential and commercial customer deposits for electric service. Officials said the borough currently has roughly 3,200 deposits on the books for about 9,600 customers and cited Quakertown Borough's experience eliminating deposits as supporting evidence; the finance team favors pursuing elimination and is considering options to apply existing held deposits as credits or liquidate them. Council members framed the change as an efficiency improvement and a renter-protection measure.

The committee discussed a Quakertown-Perkasie-Hatfield-Lansdale (QPHL) energy corridor exploratory project funded by a grant; the corridor would study resilience and local power distribution options among the four municipal utilities. The project is exploratory and described as grant-funded with private partners likely to be involved in later phases.

The electric department also rolled out a new four-year, Department of Labor-accredited apprenticeship program for lineworkers, delivered in partnership with Northwest Lineman's College. The program combines classroom and on-the-job instruction; participants are expected to remain with the borough for at least 24 months after training or reimburse training costs if they leave earlier, per meeting remarks.

Other operational items noted in committee remarks included seeking radar detection replacements at two intersections (a quoted estimate of $20,828 for two locations) and follow-up meetings with the Environmental Advisory Commission on a 100% renewable resolution.

None of the items above recorded as final, binding council votes during the Feb. 5 work session; many were described as prepare-and-advertise or forthcoming items to be presented to full council.