Electricity

Electricity bills are on the verge of dropping in Williamsport, Mayor James G. McCleaf II said Monday night. The cost of purchasing electricity from FirstEnergy, formerly Allegheny Energy Supply, will drop about 12 percent, a savings passed to town customers, McCleaf said. The Maryland Public Service Commission must approve the new wholesale rate plan. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Baltimore. A "talking points" sheet from which Councilman James C. Kalbfleisch read Monday said the town would have the lowest electric rates in Maryland — 9 percent less than Potomac Edison customers, 36 percent less than Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., and 38 percent less than Pepco.

After the significant storms last weekend, many areas of the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and surrounding areas have been left without electricity. Citizens Fire Co. of Charles Town is reminding residents to follow these simple precautions while operating generators:  Generators should be used in well-ventilated locations outside away from all doors, windows and vent openings. Never use a generator in an attached garage, even with the door open. When plugging in appliances, make sure they are plugged directly into the generator or a heavy-duty outdoor-rated extension cord.

The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved spending $6,500 to join a regional electricity transmission organization that will oversee the flow of electricity across high-voltage wires, City Light Department Manager Terry Weaver said. The cost could raise customers' bills by less than a few cents, if at all, Weaver said. The city will join PJM Interconnection, he said. This service was previously done by Allegheny Energy. But as part of the federal deregulation process, Allegheny Energy is required to join a regional transmission organization, such as PJM, Weaver said.

Electric customers in the City of Hagerstown will soon see an increase in their monthly bills of between 1.67 percent and 3.23 percent over their current charges, City Light Department Manager Mike Spiker said Tuesday. Spiker said one portion of the price charged to customers - the Purchase Power Adjustment - is increasing because the amount of electricity used last year by City Light customers was less than the amount of electricity the department projected would be used last year.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Rising energy costs are not limited to the gas pump and the 10,500 customers of the Chambersburg Electric Department will be reaching deeper into their pockets next year to light, heat and cool their homes, Department Superintendent Richard Hamsher told the Borough Council on Monday. Hamsher, who will retire Feb. 1 after 40 years, including 23 as superintendent, told the council that customers can expect their electric bills to rise about 20 percent over the course of 2009, but not all at once.

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer A pair of sneakers may have saved the life of a Hagerstown roofer when a metal sheet he was carrying touched a power line, sending several thousand volts of electricity through his body and sparking a fire at an apartment building on Broadway. George Caniford, an employee of Tri-State Roofing and Siding Inc., said he was carrying the 12-foot piece of metal edging when a gust of wind knocked him off balance. When the metal touched the power line, several thousand volts of electricity traveled through the metal and his body and set the building on fire at about 1:45 p.m. "It took the metal right from me. As soon as it happened I couldn't feel anything in my hand," he said.

People touring a new facility that converts methane gas into electricity might have been turned off by the dreary weather Tuesday morning, but the microbes making the needed methane loved it. The microbes converting decaying landfill trash into methane function best in moist environments, PPL Renewable Energy President Mike Kroboth explained. The methane they make is now being used to power homes and businesses in the Borough of Chambersburg. A four-mile “extension cord” carries electricity generated at the IESI Blue Ridge Landfill in Greene Township, Pa., to the nearby borough.

HAGERSTOWN -- Electricity customers in Hagerstown are expected to save about 8 percent under a new contract extension with Allegheny Energy Supply. The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday approved the two-year extension, which will take effect June 1, 2011. Under the extension, the rate per megawatt hour (MWh) in Hagerstown will drop to $64.85 from the current rate of $71.89. The roughly 10 percent drop in the rate is not the same as the savings for customers, according to Michael S. Spiker, the city's director of utilities.

About 850 electric customers in Williamsport will soon pay more for electricity as a result of a federal order aimed at streamlining the management of electrical transmission systems. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's order is indirectly linked to the complex issue of state-directed electric deregulation, FERC Spokeswoman Barbara Connors said Tuesday. It's been theorized that deregulation will result in more choice and lower costs for electric customers. Wholesale electric consumers nationwide are buying electricity over greater distances, Connors said.

The Hagerstown City Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a proposal to contract with a business consulting firm to aid in negotiations to buy electricity. The contract would cost the city up to $134,750, according to city information. The Hagerstown Light Department provides electricity to about 17,000 customers within city limits, but does not generate its own electricity. City Light's electricity is bought through what is known as a wholesale purchased power contract.

People touring a new facility that converts methane gas into electricity might have been turned off by the dreary weather Tuesday morning, but the microbes making the needed methane loved it. The microbes converting decaying landfill trash into methane function best in moist environments, PPL Renewable Energy President Mike Kroboth explained. The methane they make is now being used to power homes and businesses in the Borough of Chambersburg. A four-mile “extension cord” carries electricity generated at the IESI Blue Ridge Landfill in Greene Township, Pa., to the nearby borough.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” - Henry Ford Proving there is truth in the words of America's most famous mechanic, a former mechanic placed first in the most competitive division in Saturday's 2013 Associated Builders & Contractors Skills Competition. “I've got a lot of years on a lot of these people. I'm the oldest person in the class,” Steven Rhyne said. “I was a mechanic for a lot of years,” Rhyne, 58, has worked in the electrical department at Holcim US for the past three years.

An electrical problem caused a fire that resulted in $45,000 in damages to a wood-frame house Saturday night in Cascade, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office said Monday. The fire was reported at 8:46 p.m. at a two-story house at 14627 Pennersville Road, according to a news release from the Fire Marshal's Office. The occupants of the house discovered the fire in an upstairs bedroom, the release says. The fire caused $30,000 in damage to the structure and $15,000 in damages to the contents, according to the release.

The state's Capital Budget bill cleared a crucial step in the House of Delegates on Wednesday when it passed a second reading, and tucked away in it was a provision setting aside $85,000 for the Antietam Fire Company in Hagerstown. The Capital Budget bill, however, did not include any money for the demolition of the former Municipal Electric Light Plant in Hagerstown. Del. John P. Donoghue, D-Washington, who had asked for the fire company money through a bond bill to fund renovations and repairs to the Antietam Fire Company's firehouse, said the money would help Hagerstown residents.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in finding an electric guitar that was stolen during a burglary that occurred in the Clear Spring area on Dec. 31. A guitar matching the stolen black Fender Squier Strat was sold to Washington Street Pawn Brokers and the shop sold the guitar to an unknown individual on Jan. 11, according to the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department would like to talk to the person who bought the guitar to determine if it is the instrument that was stolen in the burglary, the sheriff's office said.

With the approval of Maryland's legislature, Gov. Martin O'Malley will soon sign into law new state subsidies to lure power companies to build windmill generators off the coast of Ocean City. The legislation will raise electricity bills, but the added cost is supposed to bring more jobs, cleaner air and, in the words of Gov. O'Malley, “a better, more sustainable future for our children.”  Credit the governor and state lawmakers for such high-minded goals. Unfortunately, the chief “green” benefit from the proposal will be the millions of dollars in subsidies - some explicit and others well-hidden - that will flow to the power companies and their contractors.

Del. John P. Donoghue, D-Washington, has introduced two bond bills in the House seeking $300,000 to demolish the former Municipal Electric Light Plant in the city's east end and another $85,000 to renovate and repair the Antietam Fire Company's fire house on Hagerstown's Potomac Avenue. “For years, it's been an eyesore and an environmental hazard and it's one of the pieces of trying to transform Hagerstown ... so we can start by knocking that down ... and start transforming that area near the stadium,” Donoghue said about the MELP plant.

The owner of the former Municipal Electric Light Plant wants to tear down the blighted building in Hagerstown's East End just as badly as city officials do, he said last week. David Harshman, the property's owner since 1996, said on Dec. 26 that he and his demolition contractor, Bud Williams of Lycoming Supply based in Williamsport, Pa., have put in “hundreds of hours” in the past few years trying to make the project work. “We're not here to make controversy at all,” Williams said.

An electrical outlet malfunction was suspected of causing a Saturday morning fire on Big Pool Road that displaced four adults and a child, according to deputy state fire marshal. The family has moved into another residence, Clear Spring Volunteer Fire Co. member Eric Reid said Monday morning. “The community really stepped up,” Reid said. Plenty of clothing and toys have been donated to help the family of Stephen Wood, Reid said. The family has moved to a home on Indian Springs Road where the owner has agreed to donate the first three months' rent to allow the family to get back on its feet, Reid said.

It's been known for years that the former Municipal Electric Light Plant in Hagerstown's East End is a deteriorating eyesore, but it's also a major public hazard, a city councilman said last week. Calling the building a “huge liability,” Councilman Lewis C. Metzner stressed that the city needs to take action soon to remediate the loose asbestos inside the blighted MELP building and clean up the 2.96-acre property that borders Antietam Creek at the intersection of Eastern Boulevard south and Mt. Aetna Road.