Tag: Harrisonburg Electric Commission
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Harrisonburg’s electric utility is charting a roadmap to encourage solar power. What are the options?
After deciding earlier this summer on a policy to continue crediting customerswho install solar panels, the members of the Harrisonburg Electric Commission made it clear that their conversation about solar energy’s future in Harrisonburg wasn’t done — but was just starting.
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Harrisonburg Electric Commission will consider making its first rate cut in more than four decades
The Harrisonburg Electric Commission could decide as early as next month whether to cut its rates by 3 percent, potentially saving the average residential customers more than $30 a year on their electricity bills.
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Electric commission draws a record crowd — and sighs of relief from solar advocates. Now the utility is working on its next steps toward renewable energy
It’s not often that the Harrisonburg Electric Commission’s monthly meeting attracts a standing-room-only crowd. Yet, Tuesday morning, more than 20 people crammed into the small conference room at the utility’s Operations Center on North Liberty Street. Some were solar installers, dressed in bright-colored t-shirts with their employers’ logo emblazoned on them. Others were solar advocates or homeowners with arrays on their houses.
Tricky negotiations on city schools’ solar project near resolution, though total size now significantly smaller
A high-profile solar project put forth by the Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) is one step closer to being finalized after a months-long, three-way dance between the school board, solar developer Secure Futures, and the Harrisonburg Electric Commission (HEC).
Local group conducts “solar census,” as HEC raises solar cap to 2% percent
With solar energy growing quickly in the city (and soon to take another leap, if the school board has its way), an effort is underway to document and map every installation in the city. The 2019 Harrisonburg Solar Census launched on March 30 and will make the information it gathers accessible to the public.
Airbnb properties are one step closer to being regulated, and Council finally ends HEC commissioner saga
Short term rentals in Harrisonburg, including Airbnb properties and vacation rentals, will soon be regulated by special use permits – if a new proposed city ordinance passes its second reading at the next city council meeting.
Scooter companies will have to provide money and data to operate in Hburg. Meanwhile, HEC appointment saga isn’t over yet.
The Harrisonburg City Council once again postponed completing its appointments to the Harrisonburg Electric Commission by filling only one of two spots at Tuesday’s meeting, but it did unanimously approve a one-year pilot program to regulate sharable scooters and bikes. City Attorney Chris Brown presented the one-year “pilot project” for the permitting of Bird and Lime-S electric scooters that have flooded the city since last fall.
HEC General Manager explains utility budget shortfall that city schools’ solar project is expected to cause
As reported last week in The Citizen, HEC says the planned schools project will result in a $225,000 net operating loss to its budget – even though the electricity generated by the schools’ solar panels will reduce the amount of electricity HEC buys from Dominion. That’s because HEC doesn’t sell electricity to the city schools, or any of its customers, at the same price it buys it.
