Mansfield Electric Comes in over $2 Million Under Budget

Director of the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Gary Babin told selectmen on Wednesday that the MMED came in this year $2.6 million under budget.

The budget, which spanned from June 2011 to July 2012, came from purchase power (cost and electrical transmission.

“Those are costs that in actuality, we don’t control,” Babin said.

Babin said that purchase power(the cost of buying electricity for the department) accounts for 71 percent of the department’s budget.

He added that this year had 5.8 percent less kilowatt-hours purchased this year than last.

Babin said that the under budget figures were also due to lower energy costs.

“Power costs are as low as I’ve ever seen them because of the cost of natural gas,” he said. “The abundance of gas and shale gas is what’s really driving down the costs.”

One portion of the budget that went over was the cost to physically run the electrical system and repair it.

“This was primarily due to Tropical Storm Irene and the October snowstorm,” he said.

The cost was $125,000 over budget. Labor costs were also $78,000 due to overtime costs.

One other over budgeted item was the turning on of the Mansfield streetlights, which Babin said was $14,000.

“When we go, we don’t just turn [the lights] on, we evaluate them as well,” he said. “It’s a combination of patrolling and repair work as well.”