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Public power agreement meeting June 13

Last Updated on May 10, 2016 by cassnetwork

The recommended choice for Logansport to pursue in meeting its future electricity needs will be revealed to the public next month.

Mayor Dave Kitchell, Utility Service Board President Dan Slusser, City Council President Teresa Popejoy and LMU Superintendent Paul Hartman today agreed on a June 13 date for a 7 p.m. meeting at the Ivy Tech Community College campus. Council and USB members will meet jointly in executive session May 24 to hear the recommendation from Lewis & Kappes, Indianapolis. That meeting will not be open to the public.

Tuesday afternoon, the four city officials met for their third and final teleconference update on the process with Anne Becker of Lewis & Kappes.

“I think it’s safe to say the evaluation process is proceeding on schedule, but there is no clear choice yet, and Anne and her associate are still busy asking follow-up questions and gathering data to make their decision,” Kitchell said. “As part of the oversight process, their findings will be reviewed by McCullough Research because this is a vital decision to our economic development future. I want to be able to assure Logansport ratepayers that there is as much validity as possible in the decision that is made.”

Six entities submitted proposals to LMU, which shut down its coal-fired generating plant Jan. 31 because of looming EPA regulation deadlines. The plant had been providing less than 50 percent of the necessary power to meet the demands of LMU customers. Closing the plant allowed LMU to begin purchasing all of its power for the time being from Duke Energy, one of the six entities interested in a new long-term agreement with LMU.

“There are several factors that have to be taken into account not only in this phase of the process, but in the negotiation phase that follows the June 13 meeting,” Kitchell said. “Among those factors are the ability to respond to a catastrophic weather event that could potentially leave us without power for an extended period, and the willingness to allow us to generate additional power of our own via natural gas, solar or wind and sell it on the grid.”

At least three of the proposals are considered viable alternatives for LMU. Although LMU has an existing agreement with Duke that does not expire until the end of 2018, it is contractually obligated to notify Duke by Dec. 31 of this year if it intends to discontinue using Duke at the conclusion of the contract.

SOURCE: News release from the Office of Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchell

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