Helena wants to reduce energy bill

Facing an uncertain energy market, the City of Helena is looking inward for ways to cut power costs.
In recent memos to the city commission, both community facilities director Gery Carpenter and public works director John
Rundquist have outlined steps that can be employed to reduce the city’s electric and gas bills.

By JOHN HARRINGTON, IR Staff Writer

“For us it will be a constant focus for a while,” said Carpenter. “We’re beginning a process that will become more
encompassing over the next couple of years.”
Among the commonsense tips Carpenter laid out for the buildings under his purview, including the Civic Center, fire stations,
city shop and neighborhood center:

— Replace all worn light bulbs and repair broken fixtures.

— Turn off all appliances and non-essential computers each night.

— Replace all incandescent fixtures that don’t need dimming with fluorescent or high-intensity discharge fixtures.

— Reduce outside lighting.

— Turn off the lights when a room’s not occupied.

— Fix or adjust heat systems to eliminate the need for electric space heaters.

— Set the hot water heaters at 120 degrees.

— Set air conditioning and heating thermostats at 70 degrees, and keep the systems operating properly.

— Regularly replace air filters in heating and cooling systems.

“The one that will save us the most will be making the air handling systems more efficient,” Carpenter said. “Our primary focus
is to provide a safe environment for our employees, while enhancing their productivity at the same time. That’s the area
where we can save the most energy and have the most positive impact on our employees.”
For his part, Rundquist noted that the water and wastewater treatment facilities are the city’s largest users of electricity. He
commented on the status of energy conservation efforts at three of the city’s main facilities:
n At the Missouri River Water Treatment Plant, a new variable-speed pump, installed this year, uses just enough energy to
deliver the water and saves power over the old fixed-speed pump.

n At the Ten Mile Water Treatment Plant, an energy study in the 1990s recommended a process called “load shedding,” or
turning off most of the other electricity at the plant when one of the power-hungry pumps starts up.

“It involves changing electric controls such that heating elements and other non-critical loads are shut down when a large
pump is started,” Rundquist said in his memo. “This would reduce the load on the utility during start-up and significantly
reduce the demand fee on our electric bill.”

Load shedding improvements are penciled into the capital improvement plan for 2006, but Rundquist said the upgrades,
which he expects to cost around $20,000, could take place before then.
At the wastewater treatment plant, now that several recent improvements are operational, staff wants to hire a consultant for
$10,000 to study the plant’s energy efficiency.

“We’ve got new pumps, motors and controls in place,” Rundquist said. “Are there ways we can make them work together more
efficiently to save energy?”
In his State of the City address in January, Mayor Jim Smith noted that Helena and other cities had tried to gain more control
over energy costs by purchasing some assets from Montana Power. That effort was unsuccessful, but that doesn’t mean the city
can’t do things to keep its energy costs down, Smith said.

“The one strategy that Helena can pursue with confidence and certainty is a strategy of energy conservation,” he said.

“Whether the price is high or low, conservation makes sense. Whether it’s natural gas, electricity, gasoline or diesel fuel,
conservation makes sense.”
Reporter John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080, or [email protected].

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