County administrator reports rising electric bills; DPW blames higher delivery charges

County administration told the Warren County Finance and Budget Committee on Dec. 5 that the county has moved "significant amounts of money to pay electric bills," and that electric costs are rising despite commonly cited national price points.

"There are significant amounts of money moved to pay electric bills," Speaker 1 said, also noting that commonly reported gas prices do not reflect local conditions: "despite what we hear from the state and the federal government that gas is $3 a gallon... ours is certainly over that."

Speaker 4, representing the Department of Public Works, explained how the county's energy contract structure contributes to recent increases. "A lot of that comes through us," the speaker said, noting the county's mega contract with Constellation (formerly Direct Energy). The speaker said the contract's commodity price is fixed but the county is seeing higher delivery charges, which they attributed to an order by the Public Service Commission allowing National Grid to increase delivery charges this past year.

Speaker 1 added that, while the "Mega" contract performs well, the county is still experiencing higher overall bills because delivery components have risen. No specific dollar amounts or account line items were read into the transcript; those transfers were referenced in the administrator's journal report of transfers in the packet.

The committee did not take further action on the utility discussion during the public portion of the meeting; the item preceded a request to move into executive session to discuss litigation.