Seward residents are trying to determine a path forward for their aging electric utility – again. City officials and representatives from other Southcentral energy cooperatives came together to discuss that issue at a town hall on Monday.
Brian Hickey is Seward’s utility director and moderated the event.
“Tonight, I think, is about Seward and the future of your electric utility, of our electric utility, of your electric utility,” he told attendees. “Our goal in this process that we're kicking off tonight is to make sure that every rate payer has the ability, the voice and the opportunity to help shape the future of this utility.”
Taylor Crocker supervises utility operations. He says he was interested in reviving the topic after hearing concerns from ratepayers about a lack of transparency during the last attempt to sell the city-owned utility.
“They don't know what's going on with the utility,” he said. “They don't know why the rates are the way they are. And so I just thought, ‘Well, why don't we start having community meetings and just talk about this stuff and just figure out what the community wants?’”
Voters narrowly killed an effort to sell the city’s electric utility to Homer Electric Association during a special election two years ago. Voters affirmed that decision during the regular election later that year. Rates went up after the sale failed.
Seward officials have long said moving away from a city-run electric utility could save customers money and make service more reliable. Aging utility infrastructure is a key reason costs are so high. Department staff told attendees the city is upgrading electric transmission lines and inventorying every piece of infrastructure, down to individual poles.
Monday’s town hall also comes as the city preps for the connection of cruise ships to the city’s grid. Last year, Seward received a $45.7 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to add shore power to its newly madeover cruise ship dock.
Hickey sees three paths forward for the utility: status quo operations, sale to another utility, or creation of a new Seward utility cooperative.
“I think the current situation is probably not sustainable,” he said. “I think the choice the community has is to try to go back to the status quo, but funded and operated in a way that gets the stuff done that needs to get done, which frankly, hasn't been happening for a long time.”
Representatives from the Cordova, Kodiak and Copper Valley electric associations also attended. Attendees asked questions, including about the pros and cons of having a city-run, versus cooperative-run, utility.
Linda Freed serves on Kodiak Electric Association’s board of directors. She says the utility was intentional about baking transparency into their board makeup by making it a cooperative.
“Many of the members were going to be outside city limits, and they wanted everybody to have an equal voice in the co-op,” she said.
Hickey says the city plans to hold more meetings next year and says anyone with thoughts or input should reach out to the city’s electric department. Seward Public Media streamed the town hall, which is available on YouTube.
