Dear OPALCO Board of Directors,

OPALCO has substantially increased the cost of electrical service for all customers, and plans future hikes that will increase electricity bills even more.  Small residential users will be hit especially hard, with rate hikes of up to 170% by the year 2019.

At the same time, there have been increasing questions regarding whether OPALCO is allocating costs to electrical customers for investments that will be used in its new broadband business. In an effort to reassure OPALCO members, board member Chris Thomerson stated that “all Electric Grid Communication and Control expenses are for the Electric Grid, and they are not associated with… broadband”; and that “the one and only cost to Electric members is the startup loan of $3/month/member for two years”. 

As member/owners of OPALCO we would like to know the details of where our money is going. We request that OPALCO provide, by the 2015 annual meeting, a publicly accessible (through internet link) accounting of every OPALCO past and planned (through FY 2019) investment in fiber or communication equipment together with an item-by-item justification of its use for the electrical grid, the cost, asset location, and date of execution.

This petition is sponsored by the Islands Energy Coalition, a non-membership group of energy geeks and friends looking at local and global energy issues. For further information contact, Chris Greacen at chrisgreacen@gmail.com.