Westminster supplier seeks to hold onto the job

At the end of a near 90-minute presentation in Westminster, the manager of the city’s outside electric power supplier said the PMPA would like the city to keep its membership of an Upstate consortium of municipalities which have invested in a nuclear power reactor.  That membership in the Piedmont Municipal Power Agency, based in Greer, has been the wholesale provider of power to the city and, in turn, the city retails that power to its customers.  However, in 2019, the current’s city council’s predecessors began steps to position Westminster to eventually go into the open market to find a better deal, particularly, a deal at less cost to the city and its customers.  In yesterday’s workshop Andy Butcher of the PMPA explained that Westminster’s supplement power agreement will expire in 2029 and its purchase agreement in 2035.  Yet inflation and other economic factors continue to raise costs for practically everything and there’s uncertainty what kinds of rate increases, if any, will be required in the next few years.  Butcher, however, expressed optimism that PMPA’s finances, which include a large de-commission fund, are strong enough to deflect or keep down the number of rate increases.  Butcher, along with his colleague, Mike Frazier, also outlined several financial benefits that Westminster and the other member cities receive as PMPA members.  They include annual return of funds to the city members, such as $380 thousand to Westminster in the past year.  First-term Councilwoman Audrey Reese expressed concern that, on hearing that a 5% retail rate increase is part of the city’s proposed new budget.  Colleague Daby Snipes is hopeful that her city’s retail customers will become more mindful of various conservation actions that can reduce their bills and that of the city’s annual purchase load from its supplier.