Middleboro/Lakeville get left behind....again

Middleboro business owners who generate electricity say green-energy program doesn’t make sense

Business owners who generate electricity say program doesn’t make sense

By Alice C. Elwell

MIDDLEBORO — A commercial bricklayer who had been in discussions with Middleboro officials to build a federally subsidized solar-power station says the deal is off because the town’s power utility wants to buy the power from him at a bargain rate, then charge him full price for it.

“It does not make financial sense, it killed the deal for me,” said Walter J. Zaverucha, principal owner of 4M 16 Commerce LLC, who proposed a 200-kilowatt solar field on the roof of the former Computer Boards building on Commerce Boulevard. “The town of Middleboro has killed that deal.”

Zaverucha said the proposed solar array would have supplied about 60 percent of his energy, but Middleboro Gas & Electric Commissioners adopted a policy that will buy the power produced for about 10 cents a kilowatt hour and charge him 16 cents, “I was blown away by that.”

“The power I produce would never leave the building,” Zaverucha said. “Why sell what I’m consuming? I should be able to consume all the electricity I produce. Why do I have to pay them anything?”

Zaverucha received $489,000 in state and federal grants to build the array in Middleboro.

“The whole incentive behind this is to produce more green energy,” Zaverucha said, but he’s backing out of the project because he said the commissioner’s buy-back policy offers no incentive. “I pleaded with the Gas & Electric give us some kind of a deal that made sense.”

“If I was a mile down the street in Bridgewater, I’d go forward with this project,” Zaverucha said.

Electricity in Bridgewater is provided by National Grid.

Zaverucha said investor-owned utilities offer a better buy-back policy and he’s going forward with a similar project in Plymouth for the Rising Tide Charter School, that is serviced by NStar.

“I thought the whole world was going green,” said Brenton Tolles, administrator of the Island Terrace Nursing Home in Lakeville, owned by his family. Tolles said the commissioner’s policy will hinder green energy.

Tolles already started installing a $245,000 solar array this week, using federal and state grants to fund half of the construction costs. But in light of the commissioner’s policy, he said it’s uncertain if he’ll break even. Tolles expects to produce between 10 and 15 percent of power used at the nursing home with the solar panels.

“I’m disappointed with the commissioner’s policy, but they’re a municipal utility and they can do anything they want,” said Tolles. “We’re losing with money Middleboro Gas & Electric; I wish they’d reconsider.”

Tolles said the policy targets those that use green energy to cut consumption of fossil fuel.

“If I cut back my use some other way they’re not going to penalize me. To me, this is just one more way to cut my energy. Why are they penalizing me for cutting my energy use?”

On Nov. 9, commissioners approved a policy to buy back renewable energy produced by commercial customers. Gas & Electric spokeswoman Sandra Richter said the town-owned utility is not required to pay customers for the power they produce, unlike regulations for their larger counterparts such as NStar and National Grid.

Richter said investor-owned utilities are mandated by the state to buy renewable energy from their customers who produce it, but she said expenses are passed along to other customers. Richter said state law prohibits a public utility like Middleboro G&E from passing on costs.

“One customer can’t be subsidized by another at a public utility,” she said.

Richter said power companies are required to have enough power on hand to supply customers who are producing renewable energy, in the event the sun doesn’t shine or the wind stops blowing. She said it’s a fixed cost that renewable energy producers are liable for, rather than passing it on to the rate payers.

“We still have to have the power ready, even if it’s not used,” Richter said.

This is the first time the Middleboro utility has had a policy in place for renewable power, and Richter couldn’t estimate the fixed costs associated with a project such as Zaverucha’s.

Michael Durand, spokesperson for NStar said “We have more renewable energy projects on our systems that any other utility in the state.” He said there are several benefits in being a customer of a regulated utility, “This is one of them.”