City looks to lock in electrical rates for new 3-year contract
After holding out for months waiting for electricity rates to stabilize, Butler City Council will discuss beginning a new contract that will run from this November until December, 2025.
Councilman Don Shearer said at Thursday’s city forum meeting that the rates are likely not going to change in the city’s favor before the current contract expires in November. He said the city will still negotiate a good price for the electricity rate.
“The uncertainty we are seeing now is starting to affect prices three years into the future,” Shearer said. “What we’re going to do is take the cost from next year and average it over the next three, that way we are locking in a lower rate on the last two years of the contract.”
The current rate the city is paying for electricity is $0.04936 per kilowatt hour.
Also at the meeting, council discussed a proposal from Viasat, a communications company, that would lease property at Rotary Park to install a satellite dish.
The lease agreement would be for three years at a cost of $600 per month, which Councilman Dan Herr said is why he wanted to discuss the offer with council, despite having mixed feelings about its placement in a park.
The six-foot-tall satellite dish is proposed to be placed near the walking bridge at the back part of the park, which Herr said is close to the city’s electrical grid. However, he also said the city could set a precedent if council approves a request of this nature.
“My issue it is, yes, it’s a park,” Herr said. “Once you do it for one, that would be opening it up for others.”
Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy also said approving an equipment lease in a public park would defeat the purpose of the city designating a park in the first place. He also agreed with Herr that it could set a precedent for other companies to propose projects in parks, if approved.
“When we take our parks, we’re setting aside a green space and saying, ‘That’s for recreation, that’s for kids, that’s for families,’” Dandoy said. “That’s not for this kind of use or development. That’s why I have a problem with it. It’s for kids.”
The council discussed the possibility of asking Viasat to reconsider the placement of the dish to closer to Pullman Park, in an area less frequently accessed by the general public.
