The school year should close in June with a $55,000 energy account surplus, said Paul Hendrickson, business manager for the schools. He talked about the savings at a Board of Education meeting in February.
It’s a lot different from the previous year, when he projected energy accounts to be $216,000 over budget at the end of the year. That figure shrank to approximately $100,000 at the actual end of the year.
There’s no question the winter of 2015-16 had more warm periods, even early spring-like weather, than did the winter of 2014-15.
“Warmer weather and energy conservation measures at the high school are making the difference, and January is normally the highest usage energy month of the year,” Hendrickson said.
The surplus money goes to the town’s general fund.
In the town government, at the seven locations using heating oil both last and this year, the usage is down about 3,300 gallons, which is about $10,000 in savings, said Jerry Gay, the town’s purchasing officer.
There are five town buildings on natural gas for both years, with $9,867 in savings to date, Gay said. The recreation center is a sixth building, at an additional savings of $1,000 over last year.
“Much of that usage is heating water for pools and locker rooms and is fairly stable year-round, no matter what the outside temps,” Gay said, explaining why it isn’t higher.
The savings comes from more than usage of gas. For natural gas there is also a supply charge for each month, which changes each month and is based on the current market cost. Last winter it maxed out at 70 cents and this year it topped out at 40 cents.
“This would also factor into the Board of Education’s natural gas savings,” Gay said.
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