Rockingham County commissioners tabled consideration of a proposed revision energy operation-and-maintenance (O&M) service agreement on Dec. 4, 2025, after several members raised concerns about an automatic 4% annual price increase and the open-ended renewal language.

The contract under consideration would have started Jan. 1, 2026, for an initial year with successive one-year automatic renewals subject to a 4% annual increase. Supporters described the scope as primarily preventive monitoring and dashboard support for county systems; opponents worried the evergreen 4% escalator would lock the county into a long-term cost trajectory.

One commissioner said during debate: "4% for the rest of my life is a lot of money," summarizing the objection that the increase and renewal mechanism were too open-ended without a multi-year review. Commissioners suggested options including a 3- or 5-year contract term, or an annual escalation tied to a regional CPI index to avoid an unconstrained compounding increase.

Rather than vote to approve the current draft, the board voted to table the agreement and asked staff to renegotiate terms with the vendor (including exploring a fixed multiyear term or CPI indexing) and return with revised language.

Next steps: Staff will engage the vendor on term length and escalator language and report back to the board; the item will return for consideration once revised terms and scope details are available.