Elsewhere in Columbiana County
Township trustee expresses interest in electricity discount plan
By TOM GIAMBRONI Staff Writer
LISBON — A plan to allow townships to decide whether they want their residents to have the option of participating in an electricity discount program already is drawing interest.
Center Township Trustee Ken Schreffler attended last week’s meeting of the Columbiana County commissioners to inquire about the discount program he read about over the weekend in local newspapers.
Schreffler was interested in the $50,000 grant townships could receive from FirstEnergy Corp. if township voters agreed to participate in the program and at least one customer signs up. He wondered if there were any strings attached to the $50,000, or were the trustees free to spend it as they see fit.
“I think the grant can be used for anything. It’s up to the townships how they want to use it,” Commissioner Jim Hoppel told Schreffler.
FirstEnergy, the parent company of Ohio Edison, has been encouraging cities and villages in its service area to participate in a statewide discount program. Commissioners were approached recently about how they could make the program available to townships by one of two methods.
First, commissioners could place the issue on the ballot for those townships within the Ohio Edison service area — there are 12 — to approve. If it passed, commissioners would receive a single $50,000 grant to be divided among the 12 townships.
Commissioners chose the second option, which is to let the township trustees decide if they want to place the issue on the ballot. If they do, and the issue passed, the townships would receive $50,000 grants each from Ohio Edison.
Even if the issue passes, participation among residents and business is still strictly voluntary. According to First Energy, residents would be eligible for a 6 percent annual discount between 2010 and 2013, or $37 a year on average. The discount for commercial customers is 4 percent, or $87 per year.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com
Facebook
MySpace
Digg
Stumble
Mixx
Fark
del.icio.us
LiveSpaces