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Consultants make pitch for Paterson electricity contract | Paterson Times

Consultants make pitch for Paterson electricity contract

city-hall

A pair of consultants from Concord Engineering made a pitch to the City Council on Tuesday night for a lucrative electricity contract.

Paterson spends $805,000 annually to power its municipal buildings. Under mayor Andre Sayegh administration’s plan, the city will save $54,261 per year by switching its electricity provider. At present, the city purchases electricity from PSEG.

The contract is for two years.

Vicki Molloy, vice president of energy services at Concord Engineering of Voorhees, said her firm will purchase energy from a third-party provider for the city. She and an associate gave a lengthy presentation to council members.

Neither Molloy nor business administrator Vaughn McKoy would provide a copy of the presentation to the Paterson Times on Tuesday night.

The city has to join the Passaic County Energy Cooperative, which was created in 2010, to secure the savings. 13 of 16 Passaic County towns have joined the co-op, said Molloy.

Towns not part of the co-op are North Haledon, West Milford, and Paterson, said the consultants.

The women gave their presentation to a divided City Council. Three members were skeptical of the proposal and three appeared to support it.

Council president Maritza Davila wondered why North Haledon and West Milford did not join.

“I’m not exactly sure. They haven’t given us a reason,” responded Molloy.

Davila also asked about Molloy’s previous pitch to the council in 2013. At the time, then-councilman Sayegh urged his colleagues to back Concord Engineering’s plan to takeover all residents’ PSEG accounts.

Sayegh argued residents would see savings from the switch.

“It was successful, but unfortunately the savings weren’t there to continue the program,” said Molloy. She said the county ran an eight-month trial.

Five years ago, a second firm came into the picture, after which the energy proposal was shelved.

“I don’t think we drilled down enough,” said William McKoy, 3rd Ward councilman. He wanted to see the rates other towns were paying and a comparison chart showing their savings.

Michael Jackson, 1st Ward councilman, also questioned the proposal.

Council members Al Abdelaziz, Ruby Cotton, and Lilisa Mimms appeared to support the proposal.

“I think it’s time for us to be the 14th,” said Abdelaziz, 6th Ward councilman.

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  • peejay1954

    As I stated before, Paterson was blessed and founded on the basis of it's waterfall. One of the few cities in the country who has such a free resource. Why the hell doesn't someone get this power station refurbished and start using a free resource to the city and start making a profit selling this to it's business's and citizens? Free, green and will provide jobs. It's a no brainer which apparently city administration has none of. The waste of not using it for years pisses me off to no end

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