Gregory Anderson has been named chairman of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities. Submitted photo

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities on Monday named Gregory Anderson its new chairman. He will be replacing Gregory Rabb, who had served as chairman since 2018.

Following Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s decision to not reappoint Rabb to the BPU, where he had served as a member since 2008, the board needed to elect a new chairman. However, because the Jamestown City Council didn’t approve Sundquist’s first nominees — Sean Connor and Sabrina Gustafson — in January, the BPU had to wait to elect a new chairman until the board had nine members.

In February, Sundquist’s nominees — Tamu Graham-Reinhardt and Thomas Nelson — were approved by the council, which is why the BPU was finally able to elect a new chairman during its March meeting.

Graham-Reinhardt and Nelson, along with Jeff Russell and Regina Brackman, are all new members of the board this year. Along with Rabb, James Olson and Marie Carrubba will no longer serve on the BPU board after not being reappointed by Sundquist. Grant Olson, former Ward 5 councilman, also will not be on the BPU board this year following his decision not to continue as a city councilman.

The board also approved committee assignments, which will include Kenneth Mark, Russell and Sundquist on the Strategic Planning Committee; Lana Huston and Anderson on the Personnel Committee; and Jeff Lehman, Brackman and Nelson on the Finance Committee.

BPU ELIMINATES CIVIL SERVICE POSITION

The BPU also eliminated one of its civil service positions.

The board approved a resolution to do away with the energy efficiency coordinator. The position was created in 2009 when the BPU started its energy efficiency programs that were primarily focused on customer incentives and rebates. However, David Leathers, BPU general manager, told The Post-Journal, that during the past several years, work under this title and program had changed significantly and in recent years the workload had declined.

“We expect this trend to continue in the coming years as the utility implements projects in alignment with the requirements of the (New York state) Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act,” Leathers said. “Unfortunately, for these reasons, a decision was made to eliminate the energy efficiency coordinator position in the civil service system.”

The BPU currently only offers two rebates and clean energy programs — the heat pump rebate program and the electric vehicle charger program. The heat pump program offers rebates to people who have purchased a new Consortium for Energy Efficiency tiers 1, 2 and 3 air source heat pumps and Energy Star-certified heat pump water heaters. The rebates are available for the purchase of new products made between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31. The electric vehicle charging programs offers rebates for level 2 and 3 EV charging equipment.

The BPU electric vehicle charging program started in 2019, with the offering being part of the city-owned utilities efforts to participate in the New York state Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative to stimulate investment in clean technologies. The rebates are available to encourage the installation of EV chargers under this plan. Level 2 chargers may be networked or non-networked and must have CHAdeMO or J1772 connectors or both. Level 3 chargers must be networked and have CHAdeMO or SAE combo-connectors or both.

Customers are limited to $15,000 per year under the program. A customer may apply for rebates of up to four chargers per year of participation.

As of 2017, the BPU had six energy efficiency programs — Energy Star; lighting and motor rebates for commercial and industrial customers; home energy audits and weatherization rebates for residential customers; residential attic insulation energy efficiency; customized incentive for commercial and industrial customers; and weatherization for commercial and industrial customers.

In 2018, the BPU eliminated three of its energy efficiency programs — residential attic insulation energy efficiency, customized incentive for commercial and industrial customers, and weatherization for commercial and industrial customers.