×

Accelerate BPU Meeting Livestream

The Mayor and the BPU Board have refused to accept the need to stream Jamestown Board of Public Utilities board meetings. The public and the ratepayers need to know what their Public Utility is doing and how and why they are spending ratepayers money. For it is in the millions that they do so.

What matter of investments, mandated state and federal fees, required costs like operation and maintenance , megawatts allocation and grid transfer procurement, pending renewable energy applications and the impending natural gas cost increase. How and why BPU ratepayers monies are being and will be spent to successfully achieve and implement recipient electric cost of services.

All ratepayers need to have an opportunity to learn and understand what the BPU is doing and how and why they need to do it.

With the state Climate Action Plan in implementation and the state Renewable Energy Plan wanting to enforce electrification on everything to electric use consumption and toward and all renewable energy generation future. The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities must be fully prepared and it’s ratepayers must be fully inform and engaged to know the impacts and all the associated costs from these New York state-driven programs both now and into the future.

Our utility ratepayers need to have an opportunity to learn and understand what the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities is doing about these issues and how they will impact their electric costs. Such as total home electrification applications for basic heating and cooling, electric vehicle use and home charging, public and private building energy consumption and use, conversion technology and renewable energy applications, the viability of net metering and time of use agreements. How will the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities implement offsite renewable energy ownership or procurement. Does our Jamestown Board of Public Utilities have an Energy Use and Development Plan for public review and comment.

While the benefits to having and achieving all BPU board meetings streamed from the utility to and for all its ratepayers are many fold. For those who cannot physically attend, the general public, concern citizens, ratepayers, City Council members, non-attending BPU staff in all departments could review and watch these meetings on their own time and place to understand and know what was discussed and what needs to be done.

The utility could announce and present public need to know addresses and more in-depth information on projects and applications and the media who do not usually attend can review the meetings and then present the board conversation, discussion, and resolutions approved during the board meeting for public benefit.

Despite the fact that four City Council members attended a recent BPU board meeting and voiced their interest and support to have these BPU board meetings streamed live out to the public as similar city ones are done like City Council voting and work sessions, Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, JLDC and Human Rights Commission. And I have also personally appeared and requested this simple public application at BPU board meetings for many months.

So I ask why does the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Board not want to move forward on transparency and public accountability. Their answer to me has been we are still discussing it. How long does a simple task like this take. A cell phone and a tablet pod cast could do it. Why all this necessary discussion and thought provoking analysis for why or why not. Just do it.

Our mayor supported a city transparency initiative on first taking office. I assume he wants to inform city citizens, BPU ratepayers and our elected City Council members on how , what, and why the JBPU is doing. The City of Jamestown depends upon it’s Jamestown Board of Public Utilities to be successfully operate into the future and it’s ratepayers need to know how this will happen. They are an assets and advocates not just ratepayers.

Doug Champ is a Jamestown resident.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today