The town council voted unanimously—upon review of the contract documents—to hire SolarCity solar power provider to meet all of Chestertown’s municipal power needs.
Power costs will be cut almost 40% from the current rate of 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour to 4.5 cents per kilowatt hours. Additionally, the town would not incur distribution charges, and there would be no rate escalation for 20 years.
The solar system would be installed by SolarCity at no cost the town.
City Manager Bill Ingersol commented that he had contacted other SolarCity clients, including one in Wicomico County, and had been impressed with their assurance that the company lived up to its reputation.
Solar power from a town system does not go directly into the town grid. It is ‘sold’ to the main power grid and becomes a credit used to reduce the cost of the town’s power.
Councilwoman Linda Kuiper asked if a new police station would alter the price structure of the contract with Solar City and Ingersol said that it would not.
The SolarCity website maintains that “its customers include tens of thousands of homeowners, more than 400 schools including Stanford University, government agencies such as the U.S. Armed Forces and Department of Homeland Security, and well-known corporate clients, including eBay, HP, Intel, Walgreens and Walmart.”
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