Mahoning County energy aggregate expected to save $1M

January 25, 2012 at 12:04a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County officials hope to see a savings of more than $1 million in energy costs after joining an energy aggregate for Ohio counties.

Commissioners Carol Rimedio-Righetti and Anthony Traficanti voted in favor of joining the aggregate group Tuesday morning. Commissioner John McNally was ill and did not attend.

The agreement locks the county into discounted pricing for the purchase of electricity over the next three years. The aggregate group is made up of 23 counties in the state under the County Commissioners Association of Ohio. The agreement is with FirstEnergy.

Rimedio-Righetti said the agreement is another effort by the county to save money during tough economic times.

“We know it’s tight, but there are a lot of things going on to save money for the county,” she said.

Gina Bricker, an assistant county prosecutor in the civil division, said the agreement is projected to save the county more than $1 million over the three years of the contract.

The bulk of the savings, she said, will come from those county buildings that operate round-the-clock such as the county jail, Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center and certain sanitary facilities.

Bricker said not all county buildings will be included in the agreement, but the 15 facilities using the most electricity will be included. The jail, courthouse, juvenile facilities and Oakhill Renaissance Place are included in the agreement as high-energy facilities.

The savings to the county potentially could grow, Bricker said.

“It’s a pooling agreement, so potentially, the more you get in the group, the more you can save. After the three-year contract is over, hopefully we will see more counties joining and additional savings,” she said.

The aggregate is open to all of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Traficanti said the agreement is a sign that the utility companies are taking notice of the alternative means of energy and willing to offer cost-savings mechanisms to large purchasers.

“The utility companies are getting a wake-up call with all the drilling that they had better start offering better rates. ... This should have been done a long time ago,” he said.

The county also will receive retroactive refunds for any energy-savings changes made to county buildings since 2008, officials said.