Resident asks who benefits from local solar farms; utilities director says city array offsets municipal use and savings spread across customers
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Summary
A resident asked when Fountain citizens would see utility bill savings from local solar farms; the city—s utilities director said the city—s 1.67 MW array offsets municipal use and that cost reductions are spread across customers under the utility—s cost‑of‑service model.
During public comment on Oct. 20, resident Phyllis Cruickshank asked the council when citizens would "reap the rewards" from local solar farms and whether residents were paying for those installations.
Utilities Director Dan Blankenship responded that the only solar array the City of Fountain owns is a roughly 1.67 megawatt installation off Duckwood, built under a performance contract, and that it offsets the municipal government—s electricity consumption. "We actually built that with a performance contract, and it offsets all of the municipal government's use of electricity," Blankenship said.
Blankenship explained the utility operates as a not‑for‑profit, cost‑of‑service utility: "Anything that reduces our cost is spread to all customers." He offered to meet with the resident to review billing line items and the utility—s revenues and expenditures. The city also noted that some nearby solar arrays are owned by other utilities and not by the city, and therefore are outside municipal control.
Blankenship encouraged customers who want a detailed explanation of their bill to contact customer service or to meet with him directly to walk through billing components and the utility—s financials.