Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 10311 |
| Work Detail | The Ketchum City Council on Tuesday approved spending almost $9,000 on an electric-vehicle charging station. The station will be at the Ore Wagon Museum on East Avenue. The council voted unanimously to approve a contract with a vendor, ChargePoint, to install the equipment. The cost for the installation is $8,600, but the council also approved an application to an Idaho Power program that could reimburse up to half that. The station will allow owners of electric vehicles to hook up at a publicly accessible charger. The Knob Hill Inn and Sun Valley Resort have electric-vehicle chargers, but they’re only available to patrons. Hooking up to the city’s station will cost a fee, but the amount is still to be determined. The city is weighing whether to assess a fee of $1 per hour or 15 cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity consumed. That would allow the city to slowly recoup the cost of installing the charging station over a period of four to 14 years, depending on the number of daily users and how long the cars are hooked up for. City Administrator Suzanne Frick said staff will come back to the council with a recommendation on what the appropriate fee for charging would be. Council members stressed that they wanted the fee. Users will have to have a ChargePoint account to sign up, and the vendor can assess the fee. ChargePoint collects the fee, and would provide the revenue to the city, discounting a 10 percent administrative fee on its end. The city is spending revenue from its franchise fee with Idaho Power to acquire the station. The Ketchum Energy Advisory Committee recommended the purchase. Because the station will be purchased with franchise-fee revenue, Councilman Jim Slanetz said he wanted to charge for use. He said all electricity customers pay the franchise fee on their Idaho Power bills, and he didn’t want to see lower-income residents paying for the electricity of more affluent residents who can afford electric vehicles. “This is coming out of the franchise fee,” Slanetz said. “He’s paying the electric bill. He’s actually paying for some guy to have free electricity.” Planning Director Micah Austin said the city issued a survey about the charging station, and 49 percent of respondents supported the acquisition. Another 40 percent did not. Only 23 percent of those surveyed said they would use the station, and 65 percent supported the fee for use, Austin said. City spokeswoman Lisa Enourato said the survey was issued to about 6,000 subscribers of Mayor Nina Jonas’ newsletter. Councilman Baird Gourlay questioned the legality of the City Council’s using the survey results to make decisions. City Attorney Jill Holinka said she had concerns about using the survey results in land-use decisions, which are done in a quasi-judicial process. However, she said survey results are fine for helping to decide whether to approve the charging station. |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Energy & Power |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://www.mtexpress.com/news/ketchum/ketchum-moves-ahead-with-charging-station/article_1d44cbbe-75fc-11e6-8c75-a3a80015f08d.html |
