Energy Systems Group will face the scrutiny of the Board of Education tonight about the disappointing results of its energy savings contract with Vance County Schools.
The answers ESG provides could have implications beyond the school system: The city of Henderson is considering entering a similar agreement with ESG to cut utility bills enough to pay for a consolidation of the municipal government in the Operations & Service Center. In an appearance before the City Council this spring, ESG’s Roy Williams touted the success of the school system’s energy savings contract and the quick settling of the minor problems; he later acknowledged in a letter to HomeinHenderson.com that he made inaccurate statements to the council.
David Biles, the manager of engineering services for ESG in Raleigh, appeared before the school board’s Building and Grounds Committee on July 28 to discuss the problems with the contract, which the school system entered with Progress Energy Solutions in the spring of 2003. ESG bought Progress Energy Solutions from its parent utility company.
“Vance County Schools has brought it to the attention of ESG that district utility costs are increasing at an alarming rate,” reads an attachment to the minutes from the Building and Grounds Committee meeting. “After the completion of a recent Performance Contract, there seems to be unrealized savings in these utility expenditures.”
Progress Energy Solutions brought the idea for the energy savings contract to the school board in early 2003, conducted an initial estimate of what work could be done and what savings realized, then was the winning bidder for the contract. The work involved more efficient lights, the installation of better insulated walls and windows, and controls such as motion sensors to shut off lights automatically when no one seemed to be in a room.
Under state law, guarantees are built into an energy savings contract such as the one between ESG and Vance County Schools and the proposed agreement between ESG and Henderson. The energy-efficiency renovations the contractor carries out must pay for themselves in utility savings over a specified period, and the savings should provide the cash flow to pay the contractor over a longer period, usually about 12 years.
If the savings don’t meet the promises, the contractor bears the responsibility to make further repairs or to repay the government entity. A complication school board member Robert Duke raised before the school system entered the contract was the difficulty of calculating how much utility bills would have been without the renovations, given that the schools are constantly adding high energy users such computers.
The Building and Grounds Committee attachment reports that the school system and ESG are approaching the problem as a “solid partnership” in “an ongoing process that will not be resolved overnight.”
The school system supplied information such as building square footage, building occupancy, off-hours uses, and chiller and controls scheduling. ESG is analyzing weather data, utility rates, natural gas pricing and thermal energy storage, among other issues.
ESG will install monitoring devices in schools in September. The contractor also has Biles and Williams working full time on the problem and another employee, Yixun Zhu, working half time on the Vance schools.
“ESG is committed to this process and support of Vance County Schools,” reads the attachment for the Building and Grounds Committee.
Biles is scheduled to attend tonight’s meeting to answer questions and will make periodic reports to the board.
Also on the agenda for the last school board meeting before children return to school next Monday:
* On a recommendation from the Finance Committee that originated with the Building and Grounds Committee, the board will be asked to increase the annual student parking fee at the high schools from $20 to $100. The initial motion from Pete Falkner before the Building and Grounds Committee covered Northern Vance and Southern Vance, according to the committee minutes; it’s not clear whether the final recommendation to the full board includes Western Vance.
The proposal drew a strongly negative response on WIZS-AM’s “Town Talk” program last week, and Duke called in to say that he would vote against the fee increase.
* The board will consider adding Finistar to the list of approved investment options for the school system. The Edenton-based company provides a computerized cash management system to keep a government entity’s money in community banks with FDIC insurance and fixed rates of return and full liquidity. The idea is to maximize the school system’s return while keeping the money invested in the community without risk.
* The Vance Organization to Implement Community Excellence will ask the board to endorse the Henderson-Vance application for recognition as a federal Weed and Seed site. VOICE has methodically obtained such endorsements from government and community groups in preparation for sending a letter of intent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh this month.
The map supplied to school board members does not include the latest tweaking of the proposed Weed and Seed zone. At the request of the Vance chapter of the NAACP, VOICE expanded the area along Beckford Drive from the intersection of Chestnut and Garnett streets to encompass the neighborhood around Eaton-Johnson Middle School. The borders could be changed again after a visit by a Department of Justice expert this week.
* Assistant Superintendent Wright Anderson will update the board on test scores and the results of summer school. The state released official ABCs and No Child Left Behind statistics last week for the 2004-05 school year.
* The board will face a plethora of personnel moves, most effective today, when teachers are due back at school.
The meeting starts at 7 at the Administrative Services Center on Graham Avenue.