Trowbridge appointed director of CACS

The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, a nonprofit Homer organization that inspires the stewardship of natural environments for future generations, announces the appointment of Beth Trowbridge as the new executive director. 
In 2000, Trowbridge, who has a minor in Native studies and a secondary teaching certification, began working as a part-time educator during the winter for the Center. 

Beth Trowbridge

She became the manager of the Wynn Nature Center and program director, and has acted as the Center’s  director three times – most recently after the resignation of Mike Allen. 
Trowbridge recently received an ocean literacy award sponsored by the Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence, a National Science Foundation-funded program. 

Boden honored with scholarship

Jessica Boden

A 1999 Homer Flex High graduate, Jessica Boden, received a $10,000 scholarship to Charter College, and was featured in the Frontiersman Newspaper in a recent article. The newspaper co-sponsored the contest with Charter College.
Boden said she earned her high school diploma in January 1999. As a high school senior, she was pregnant with her oldest son, William, and missed the first couple of weeks of high school with morning sickness so severe she required hospitalization.
“It was a huge accomplishment for me to graduate,” Boden said in the article.
She credits the high school principal in Homer, who went above and beyond to help her keep up with her assignments and graduate ahead of her classmates.
Now, Boden is the mother of two sons. Boden said she hopes the example she is setting for her sons will change the value they place on education personally.
“I want them to want to go,” she said of her sons’ aspirations and college. “I want them to want to better themselves.”

Whiting’s walk across Spain
An event to share the images and stories from Christina Whiting’s 500-mile walk across northern Spain is planned for 7 p.m. Feb. 29 at the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. The slideshow and conversation will be hosted by Kachemak Bay Conservation Society. A photography and mixed media art exhibit by Whiting at Fireweed Gallery opens in a reception 5-7 p.m. March 2.

KBC hosts film series on Alaska history
Kachemak Bay Campus’s history professor Mike Hawfield will host a bi-weekly series called “Hollywood’s Alaska” beginning 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8, at Kachemak Bay Campus.
Every two weeks, Hawfield will present a “classic” film or show that has Alaska as its focus. Films are open to the public, and there will be an opportunity for discussion after each film.
Films include:
Feb 8: The Spoilers (1942, John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich, based on the Rex Beach novel of 1906)
Feb 22: White Fang (Disney film of Jack London novel)
March 7: Mystery, Alaska (Hockey fantasy, with Russell Crowe)
March 21: Ice Palace (1960 epic of Alaska struggle for statehood, starring Richard Burton and Robert Ryan, based on the Edna Ferber novel of 1957)
April 4: The Silver Horde (1930 struggle over Alaska salmon, starring Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur, based on the Rex Beach novel of 1908)
April 18: Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog 2005 production of the disastrous experiment by Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard to live with brown bears.)
KBC also will have a special session, TBA, showing episodes from the first season of Northern Exposure.

The following records are cases and records filed in court. Individuals are innocent until proven guilty, and copies of the records are publicly available.

Misdemeanor
Hermwald E. Vonscheele, 75, driving while driver’s license was suspended.
Elauna M. Sauna, 25, drove with instructional permit without an adult in the vehicle.
Jackson D. Miles, 39, disorderly conduct.
Michael S. Smith, 57, disorderly conduct and resisting interfering with arrest.
Albert E. Wilson, 56, driving with license cancelled, suspended or revoked.
Robert J. Tech, 47, disorderly conduct.
Harry MaCauly, 51, permitting unauthorized person to drive.
David D. Knisely, 55, driving under the influence.

Judgment
Kerby G. Mitchell, 47, misconduct involving a controlled substance in the sixth degree, guilty.
Jeremy D. Watson, 33, misconduct involving a controlled substance in the sixth degree, guilty.
Toni R. Minahan, 48, reckless driving, guilty.
Vincent T. Kvasnikoff, 41, violation of custodian’s duty, guilty.
Jackson D. Miles, 39, disorderly conduct, guilty.
Juan M. Muniz, 51, driving under the influence, guilty.
James Mumey, 49, harassment in the second degree, amended. Violating conditions of release, guilty.
Stephen H. Field, 59, violating a protective order, guilty.
Nicholas R. Volkman, 25, driving under the influence, no contest.
Jeffery A. Geiser, 58, misconduct involving a weapon in the fourth degree, guilty.
Richard Edward, 63, driving under the influence, guilty.

Felony
Cameron Larrick, 22, assault in the third degree and misconduct involving weapons in the fourth degree.

• Group performs in Homer 7 p.m. Sunday at the Mariner Theatre
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Photo provided - The cast of Capitol Steps does a range of skits and songs poking fun at every level of politics. Here they tackle airport security.

The switch from Capitol Hill to comedy wasn’t too broad a leap for Mark Eaton, who served “on the Hill” 10 years as a staffer for two senators.
“There were always characters. Certainly, when I worked for Jessie Helms. He was about as far to the right as Ted Kennedy was to the left,” Eaton said. “Our theory is that if you don’t laugh, it might drive you crazy.”
In 1999, Eaton tried out for the Capitol Steps, a theatre group that quickly gained in popularity in the decades after its 1981 start. “I had some theatre experience and one day in the office, I heard they were doing a role call, that Capital Steps was looking for a part time performer.”
He left Sen. Helms’ office, joined the group, and didn’t return to work on Capitol Hill. His own role as an agricultural staffer, backlogging a knowledge of Virginia’s chief agricultural product – tobacco – had left him with material of his own. In fact, many of the performers of the 90-minute political comedy show are former legislative staffers with real world experience in the arena that now produces all their jokes. Taken together, the performers have worked in a total of 18 Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience.
Homer Council on the Arts Director Gail Edgerly was able to bring them to Homer during their two-week Alaska tour that includes performances in Anchorage, Juneau and Petersburg.
In light of public frustration over the gridlocks in Congress, the timing is great, she said.
“This is the perfect time to have humor about it all. We’re so excited about being able to bring them now,” Edgerly said. “It’s expensive to bring shows in, a group of this caliber. But in this show, we’re hoping that because it is such a quality show, and it’s unique, that it will fill the house.”
The humor is “G” rated, making it appropriate for all ages. “It has a humorous twist for every political perspective, with some innuendo. People who know of this group are amazed we will have them in Homer,” she said.
Eaton complimented Alaska on making its own great comedy contribution in former Gov. Sarah Palin. One of the acts is a poem read by a Palin-actress that revises Paul Revere’s historic ride.
“She’s the hottest governor ever to run the coldest state,” is one of their lines. Palin gaffs are parodied in a monologue like Tina Fey’s on Saturday Night Live: “I am so glad to be in this city that George Washington was named after…”
Expect political song parodies in a fast-paced show featuring 30 different songs and spoken bits.
“You’ll see a whole slew of characters from the president to Republicans. Mitt Romney, Newt Ginrich. Foreign dignitaries. Airport security. Gays in the military. If there’s an issue out there, we have a parody on it,” Eaton said.
Washington DC is dominated by politics of the day, and the country’s dire economic problems aren’t funny when viewed up close. “There didn’t used to be as much gridlock. I don’t relish the group up there now, their non-compromising nature. Don’t want to work anything out, just push it off to the next election.”
But you don’t have to be a political junky to enjoy how the show lampoons them. “We’re equal opportunity offenders. – our theory is if you don’t laugh it will drive you crazy. See how silly some of these theories really are. Everything revolves around the Hill.”
HCOA will be hosting the group through Tuesday for their Homer visit.
Homer Physical Therapy is offering the cast free massages. The Alaska Center for Coastal Studies is taking them snowshoeing. Era Aviation is flying them down and back. They’ll have time for impromptu touristy activities, Edgerly said.
“They’re not used to having time on their hands. They’re used to landing, sleeping, performing. They wanted this extra time here in case we had snow, to allow for traveling. It’s an unusual experience to come to Alaska,” she said.
Tickets are on sale at Homerart.org, Homer Bookstore and HCOA – $35 for members/$40 general.

Re-taking the plunge

Photo provided

Christie Bond Hill faced her coldest plunge yet, suffering frostbite as she raised $13,330 for cancer this weekend in the Seward Polar Plunge. Temperatures dipped to a windchill of minus 30, while water temperatures registered at 38.9 degrees.
“I had some frostbite on my hands and feet. It was so cold after, I couldn’t move for an hour,” Hill said.
The effort led to a second-place finish overall in most funds raised. The event drew about ten jumpers who raised a total of $170,000 for the American Cancer Society. Due to the severe cold this year, the event wasn’t as well-attended as in past years. “It was just really cold. I thought 27 below was bad,” Hill said.

Man charged for bomb threats to ferry
• Bomb threat stalled ferry, so late passengers could board
An Alaska State Trooper got to the bottom of a bomb threat on the Tustumena Ferry after a complicated process of tracking down cell phone calls.
Blake L. Barber, 23, of Anchorage was charged Monday on a felony count of terroristic threatening in the second degree. The charges stem from an event on Oct. 9 when the troopers in the Homer area received a report of a bomb threat on MV Tustumena. Trooper Dan Brom responded just after 10 p.m. that evening to the report called in from the Homer ferry office. The call came in at 9:53 p.m.
In helping with the investigation, a ferry official told Brom about a call she had received from a ferry passenger, Anthony Childers, in Solonian saying he was running late. That passenger had not yet arrived or picked up his tickets for Kodiak.
Ferry departure was supposed to be at 10:30 p.m. but it was delayed an hour and a half that night while officials inspected the ferry for any possible threat, meaning it did not leave until midnight.
Brom contacted the passenger when he arrived at the ferry terminal at about 10:35 p.m.
“Childers denied calling in the bomb threat. The last outgoing call from Childers’ phone prior to the bomb threat was to (Barber). The call was no longer than five minutes,” according to trooper report. “Childers had told Barber he was running on a tight schedule and they were running down to the last second to board the ferry.”
Homer police obtained information from ACS wireless stating that the Homer ferry office was called from the number that matched Barber’s phone at 9:53 p.m. when the call was completed. According to those same phone records, Barber had called 411 moments before in order to be connected with the ferry office.

Justin Adams

Adams earns Dean’s List
Justin Adams of Homer was named to the Dean’s Honors List for the fall semester at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire. Adams, a senior majoring in Sports and Recreation Management, earned this status by maintaining a term grade point average of at least 3.65 on a scale of 4.0.

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
Kachemak City Mayor Phil Morris is looking for help circulating letters to business owners in the campaign to gain the natural gas line to Homer from Anchor Point.
There are two primary needs, Morris said. One is for volunteers to join a local task force and talk with the more than 400 business owners in town about the potential economic impact of less expensive fuel. The need is for local businesses to tell their stories in letters addressed to Gov. Sean Parnell about the impact access to natural gas should have on their bottom line.
The other need is for businesses and community leaders to write letters. Morris, owner of Alaska Ferry Adventures, wrote of his experience: “The proposed gas line will directly affect us by saving several thousand dollars per year, which is significant when you are operating on the slim profit margins that are common in our business,” his letter reads. “We employ eight local people year round in Homer and any cost savings we can make enhance our ability to continue in business as the economy falters.” (See his letter on page 4)
Funding for the $10.6 million Homer Area Natural Gasline will be pursued in Juneau during this legislative session. Due to the governor’s request for more financial buy-in on the part of residents, Rep. Paul Seaton is talking with Enstar officials and the Regulatory Commission of Alaska about a $1 tariff that would be charged per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas. This would be charged to consumers over a 10-year period, resulting in minimal customer fees but together representing $2.5 million of the construction costs of the pipeline. This would reduce the amount asked of the State of Alaska to $8 million.
“This is an existing tariff applied for in 2003 for a gasline to service Homer. This was approved by the RCA, so it’s a mechanism that has been there for us to use, though we hadn’t discovered it until last fall,” Seaton said. Through the tariff, Enstar would front the $2.5 million for the project, and collect it over the next 10 years from consumers.
The next step is that “the RCA chairman will explain to the legislature and the governor about this tariff already in existence, that it hasn’t been used but it could be used. That’s what we are looking forward to,” Seaton said Friday.
Enstar generated the numbers based on the volume-of-use calculations for what is anticipated to go through the transition line. The 10 years is a maximum amount of time anticipated, Seaton said. “If the $2.5 million were paid back sooner, then the tariff would go away sooner,” Seaton said.
Kachemak City residents voted to levy a special mil rate to fund the distribution lines to homes. Homer City Council was expecting to take up the discussion for funding distribution once more is known about the pipeline.
Seaton said the $1 cost to consumers means the anticipated 50 percent in savings would actually be 38 percent savings, calculating in the 12 percent for the tariff.
To help with the effort, call Phil Morris at 235-8383 or Dave Weber at 235-5527.
Gov. Parnell’s address: State of Alaska, P.O. Box 110001, Juneau, Ak 99811-0001

• Fans at a nursing home in Minnesota wanted to give back after reading her books
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda - Author Marianne Schlegelmilch received a quilt in the mail from a reading group in Little Falls, Minn. The activities coordinator at St. Otto’s Care Center sent the quilt on the residents’ behalf to express appreciation for Schlegelmilch’s books.

Marianne Schlegelmilch won some of the highest praise a writer can hope for: the admiration of fans. A reading group in Little Falls, Minn., presented her with a quilt on the theme of her book, “Two Tickets and a Feather.”
The quilt was sent by mail to her last week, along with a letter from Dorothy Bernardy, who is the activities director at the nursing home St. Otto’s Care Center in Little Falls. Though she has never met Schlegelmilch, she enjoyed organizing the project to honor her for a story well-told. Two stories, actually.
It all started when Luann Gunderson, a florist who works at Safeway in Homer, suggested the book to her sister, Bernardy, who lives in Little Falls, Minn.
“I had spoken about the book and I told her ‘you have to read this.’ She said, I can do one better – I’ll read it to the residents at St. Otto’s,” Gunderson recalled.
“We read two of her books, starting with ‘A feather from a Stranger’ – it took quite some time to read it,” Bernardy said. “The group that sat through the reading of the first story gave Marianne some critiquing of the story. One of the guys said he thought it should be a movie.”
Then Schlegelmilch sent her next book, ‘Two Tickets and a Feather’ to the reading group.
“They wanted to do something fun to give back to her. Since she lives in Alaska, they figured she gets cold and could use a quilt. We don’t have a lot of sewers in the group. They watched it be put together step by step.”
The reading group members range in age from 70-90 years old. Among the feedback they gave to the author, who has published four books, is that they appreciate descriptions of Alaska.
The correspondence with Schlegelmilch added a warm spark to the seniors’ days, Bernardy said. “She encouraged them to keep reading and to guess the ending of the next story. It was fun because for them to correspond back to her meant so much to them. That’s why they wanted to send her the quilt,” she said.
Schlegelmilch was delighted with the quilt and her new fan club. “This has been a lot of fun,” she said. Now she is at work on a new book, “Driftfeather on the Alaska Sea.”
She is also the author of a children’s story: “Solo Flite -an Alaskan Puppy Becomes a Legend,” and of “Raven’s Light: A Tale of Alaska’s White Raven.”

“Capitol Steps” comes to Homer Jan. 29
If you’re a fan of Capitol Steps and have time on your hands Monday, Jan. 30, Gail Edgerly at the Homer Council on the Arts wants to hear from you. The comedy team at work in Washington DC will be entertaining groups in Alaska for two weeks, including spending three days in Homer. Gail would like to hear from people whose flexible schedule will allow you to help take them around.
Here’s background on the group: The Capitol Steps began as a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the very people and places that employed them. The group was born in December, 1981 when some staffers for Senator Charles Percy were planning entertainment for a Christmas party. Their first idea was to stage a nativity play, but in the whole Congress they couldn’t find three wise men or a virgin. So, they decided to dig into the headlines of the day, and they created song parodies & skits which conveyed a special brand of satirical humor.
In the years that followed, many of the Steps ignored the conventional wisdom (“Don’t quit your day job!”), and although not all of the current members of the Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together the performers have worked in a total of eighteen Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience.
Since they began, the Capitol Steps have recorded over 30 albums, including their latest, Desperate House members. They’ve been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS, and can be heard 4 times a year on National Public Radio stations nationwide during their Politics Takes a Holiday radio specials.
They perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Homer Mariner Theatre. Tickets are on sale at the HCOA office, at Homerarts.org and at the Homer Bookstore.
Call Gail at 235-4288 for more information.

Ski ‘Like There’s No Tomorrow’

HOMER TRIBUNE/ file photo - Kids smile and ski around the hayfields course at Lookout Mountain last Saturday.

Snow is hogging the spotlight these days in southcentral Alaska, and places favored for adventure skiing such as Cordova are likely making fans Outside wish all the more they were here now. Such fans are depicted in Warren Miller’s “Like There’s No Tomorrow,” a movie that contains footage from Cordova. It airs 7 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Homer Theatre and is a fundraiser for the Kachemak Ski Club, Ohlson Mountain Rope Tow.
“They are probably hearing the incredible stories of snow in Cordova and people swamped in the snow. I’ll bet there are Warren Miller fans packing their bags, to go to Cordova as fast as they can get there to film for next year’s movie,” said Nell Gustafson, the event organizer. This is the 62nd year of filming.
The Ohlson Mountain Rope Tow is open now 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Before heading up, call 235-SNOW for the latest conditions.
Free snowboarding and skiing lessons also will be starting at the end of January on Ohlson Mountain. High school seniors, Kaya Morelli and Parker Sorenson, will be teaching the classes as their service project on Sundays for young people and for adults, if they are interested. Listen for more on the snow line, 235-SNOW.

Refuge offers $1,000 scholarship
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges announces a $1,000 scholarship for a full-time undergraduate or graduate student at a U.S. accredited college or university. Applicants must either be conducting research or serving in an internship or volunteer program that supports the conservation of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge system. Applications must be submitted by March 1, 2012. A copy of the application and detailed instructions to complete it can be found at http://www.alaskarefugefriends.org.

Planting the ‘People’s Garden’
Homer Soil and Water Conservation District will host a public meeting for organizations interested in participating in the People’s Garden Grant Program.  Presentations will include background information about the goals of this program, micro-grant eligibility, and timelines.  Micro-grants will be awarded for up to $5,000 per project.  The goal of this program is to create locally supported, self-sufficient People’s Gardens that both improve community access to healthy foods and serve as science-based educational sites. The meeting is 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Kachemak Bay  College Room 210. 

Homer Tribune/Sean Pearson

• Rope tow opens on Ohlson Mountain Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Weather permitting, it will be open each Sunday from now on. For more information, call 235-SNOW for latest conditions

A snow blizzard dumped more than two feet on Kachemak Bay communities by Tuesday morning, and caused up to 60 mph winds in some areas and power outages.
All schools were closed from Anchor Point south to Homer when roads burdened by snow drifts proved impassible. This was the first snow day of the 2011-2012 school year.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning from Monday night to 9 a.m. Tuesday. By noon, the snows had stopped, allowing road crews and residents time to clear snow.
Most public offices also closed, to avoid forcing employees out on the roads. The Homer Senior Center public meal program was closed Tuesday. The City of Homer closed all its offices, except for essential personnel in police and clearing roads and other duties. The Homer Chamber of Commerce and the Homer Boys and Girls Club closed.
In the Homer Port and Harbor, harbor officials and staff cleared floats of up to two feet of snow, and were urging boat owners to clear off their boats. Winds at the end of the Homer Spit were recorded at 35 knots north east at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, said Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins.
Power outages were reported for the North Fork Road area between Anchor Point and Homer, on East End near Fritz Creek, and residents on Kachemak Drive. Homer Electric Spokesman Joe Gallagher reported having most of the power restored by 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, with about 18 homeowners without electricity in the Homer area.
Watch for abrupt weather switches: the outlook for today and Thursday called for rain and snow mixes, and a change to south winds. Colder temperatures down to 0 and below were to follow for Friday.
Downhill skiing opens at Ohlson Mountain this weekend, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Call 235-SNOW for the latest conditions. Later this month, Homer High School students Kayla Morelli and Parker Sorenson, completing their service work, will be giving free skiing and snowboarding lessons for young people.
This weekend on Sunday at Lookout Mountain, Nordic skiers will be doing a Duatholon 4 km and a 4km skate.

Hill set to take the plunge

Photo provided - Christy Hill prepares to take the Polar Plunge at Seward last year. She is currently raising pledge donations for the annual event, Jan. 21 to raise money for cancer programs. This will be the 13th year of her participation in the event, which generally features her as leader among funds raised statewide.

Fundraising champ for the American Cancer Society, Christie Hill, has raised about $4,000 and plans to take the Polar Bear Plunge into icy Resurrection Bay Jan. 21 in Seward.
“I am aiming at $10,000 again this year. My biggest sponsor to date is Dr. Susan Polis D.D.S. of Preventive Dental Services. She gives me a little bit more each year for the jump.  This year she has graciously donated $1,100 toward my efforts,” Hill said. She also has received a $1,000 check from the Department of Alaska American Legion Auxiliary.
“I have 12 days as of today (Monday) until my plunge,” she said, and during that time she will be soliciting donations. “This is my 13th year jumping and I have raised over $100,000 for the American Cancer Society over the years. This year I am jumping for those who have survived the disease, instead of my usual in remembrance for some one.”

Campus invites all to ‘Occupy Wounded Knee’
Join Michael Hawfield, assistant professor of history at Kachemak Bay Campus, for a viewing of Episode 5 of the PBS series, “We Shall Remain – Wounded Knee,” at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 at Pioneer Hall of the Kachemak Bay Campus for a commemoration of National Civil Rights Day. The film examines the Native American quest for justice and meaningful civil rights in the same era that Alaska Natives successfully won recognition of land claims and asserted their place in the political and economic life of the 49th state. 
Discussion will center on the Alaska Native Claims Act, which was passed 40 years ago, in 1971, also as part of the Native American civil rights movement, and a comparison with the more dramatic events in South Dakota two years later.  The movement that brought about ANCSA and subsequent revisions was confrontational, determined and deeply emotional, but unlike “Occupy Wounded Knee” in 1973, the Alaska Native civil rights and justice movement was non-violent and effectively laid the foundations for Native political and economic advances of the past four decades.

• HEA rate changes go easy on residents, but leave unknowns for larger users like hotels
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has approved Homer Electric Association’s rate restructuring plan. The new rates were effective Jan. 1.
The plan will result in a rate decrease for many HEA members, with the average HEA residential member using 630 kilowatt hours seeing a 7.2 percent decrease in the monthly bill, according to an HEA press release. HEA’s board of directors and management wanted the new rate structure to more fairly recover fixed costs, or expenses, incurred that are not related to the amount of energy consumed by members.
HEA Membership Forum Spokesman Mike O’Meara said he did the calculations for his own estimated December billing to see how the new rates would play out on the electric bill.
“It looks as if I will realize a 6.25 percent decrease in my actual cost for electricity. Actual cost includes the total of the following charges, divided by the kilowatt usage for the billing period:”
• New customer charge of $15
• New Blended energy charge — 16.917 cents per kWh (base rate + COPA)
• Regulatory charge — .0492 cents per kWh (as of November)
• Borough tax – 3 percent (at his location)”
Users on the lower end of kilowatt usage will see only modest changes. These changes were meant to equalize a problem HEA encounters from seasonal customers who stay in Homer during the summer or holidays, and leave their homes vacant the rest of the year.
“HEA made no secret about feeling the need to collect more from seasonal customers whose meters remain hooked up, but are inactive for much of the year. It costs just as much to maintain service to them as to someone regularly using several hundred kWh per month,” O’Meara said.
These costs include such items as billing, metering, customer service, poles, wires, substations, generation, transmission lines and insurance.
It also carries a reclassification of commercial classes, and the merging of the two rate classes for south Kachemak Bay members with other residential and general service rate classes.
The impact on businesses that use a lot of electricity isn’t known yet. Land’s End Resort owner Jon Faulkner gave input early on when HEA was considering changes.
“We sought involvement in the process because we face sharply rising costs despite falling revenue in a declining economy,” said Land’s End Chief Operating Officer Mike Dye. “We know our energy costs are to rise, but remain uncertain as to the magnitude of the increase given the various elements of the equation.”
A business on the low-end of electricity use would most likely see a savings, as worked out in an exercise comparing rates for November and December. An 11 percent reduction was calculated in a sample worked out by Joe Gallagher.
O’Meara believes the board handled the new rates well for residential customers, and hadn’t yet analyzed the impact to businesses.
“My only complaint about the plan, as approved, is that the $15 customer charge is a bit low. It covers less than half the amount the RCA allows a utility to charge for its fixed costs (everything needed to provide service to a customer except cost of power),” he wrote in an email. “This leaves HEA still recovering a large part of those fixed costs through the per kWh energy charge. That’s why the monthly 150 kWh minimum energy charge was added. The minimum is really just an additional, but variable, customer charge disguised as an energy charge.”
The RCA capped the combined minimum energy charge and customer service charge at $38.38.
“HEA can’t exceed that amount no matter how much the per kWh energy rate increases without going back to the RCA. My sense is that the board and management went this route because they feared HEA members would have rebelled over a higher customer charge,” he said. “All in all, I think the Board made a good faith effort to adopt a rate plan that is more or less equitable while eliminating some of the outdated features of the old rate structure.”