MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Six years after a project switched the source of heat for municipal and other buildings in Montpelier from oil to wood chips, customers say it has worked fine but costs more than anticipated.
The district heat system went online in 2014 with the goal of reducing energy costs and the city’s use of fossil fuels, the Times Argus reported on Friday. But the anticipated savings from the project assumed a rise in oil prices, which have instead dropped.
“It’s definitely been a mixed bag,” said William Fraser, city manager.
Customers of district heating, which include churches, the police and fire departments, and several private buildings, are also paying back funds raised through a bond that financed the project, the newspaper reported.
Adding customers could bring down costs for buildings already heated by the system, but a city official at the department of buildings told the newspaper the heating system does not have the capacity.
Despite the lack of cost savings, Montpelier’s mayor, Anne Watson, told the newspaper she considers the project a success.
“I think people sometimes don’t think about climate change as much these days because we have so many other issues that we’re dealing with as a society. But, really, climate change is the slow crisis that is happening in the background to all the other crises that we’re dealing with right now,” she said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.