the
Community-owned
since 1893
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A newsletter from Middleborough Gas & Electric Department
March 2015
Water department energy upgrades saving energy dollars
The highest municipal use of electricity in New England is, hands-down, the distribution of a water supply and
treatment of wastewater. This is no different for Middleborough, where residents using town water are served
through 130 miles of water main from two water storage tanks and 11 wells requiring pumps, motors and
labor-intensive monitoring and control.
The energy to deliver clean water costs the water department over $250,000 annually, an expense passed
through to customers paying a water bill. Last summer, the state’s Green Communities division awarded the
town an important grant to fund energy efficiency upgrades and the work has already begun. Here’s an update:
Team effort: MGED worked with the water department and the state DOER to identify 20 specific upgrades
to water pumps and motors for the highest level of energy efficiency. Newer technologies including variable
frequency drives and premium efficiency motors can cut the town’s use of electricity for drinking water by over Barden Hill water tank
15 to 25%.
The grant funds the incremental cost for the more expensive, higher efficiency versions of pumps and motors instead of using a
lower-efficiency standard. The grant also allowed for the work to be completed sooner rather than later to start saving right away.
Making progress: Since the grant award last June, the water department has installed two variable frequency drives and modified the
control system for the pumping units at the Spruce Street and Tispaquin #1 wells, spending over $11,000 of the funding award. The
upgrades on some of the wells will continue through the summer months with the goal to get all funded upgrades done shortly.
Final savings: When all of the recommended upgrades are complete, the water department could save about $80,000 per year at current
rates; more if electric rates rise over time. With nearly half of the improvement costs funded by the grant, the town’s portion of the
expense is recovered by the savings within two years.
The remaining grant funding will be applied to the wastewater facility upgrade to be completed next year to save an added $60,000
in energy costs when operating the upgraded facility. That’s no drop in the bucket for residents and businesses using the town’s water
system.
To report an outage:
What happens
when you report
an outage?
Call 508-947-3023 or go to
MGED.com Outage Center
on your wireless computer
or smart phone.
Whether you call or email through our online Outage Center, a
service representative receives your report and enters it into our
outage management program. If you’re on the phone, the service
representative may ask strategic questions that will help us determine
the location and extent of the outage.
If you’ve emailed your report, we use all the details you provide to
enter the report into the program and you’ll get an automatic return
email to let you know we received it. If the problem is complicated,
we may call you back to get more details so please be sure to give us a
reliable phone number to use.
Your call or email, and the information you give us, is then logged
into our system along with other callers’ information, giving our
operators the ability to view the outages in a map format. The system
also lists details that can help us locate the condition causing the
interruption.
Trucks and crews are dispatched to find and fix the problem as soon
as possible after the first calls are received and continue to receive
new caller details if necessary. Meanwhile, your report is grouped
with your neighbors’ reports as an incident and can be reviewed
later to evaluate recovery procedures and plan any steps for future
improvement. This process and your participation work in tandem
helping us restore power faster than ever. As always, we ask for your
patience during major outages when many are calling.
Because you asked: trees and
paperless billing
How many trees does it take to make the paper for MGED’s bills?
It’s about 25 trees per year for our 16,000 monthly utility bills. It also
takes nearly 500,000 gallons of water to turn those 25 trees into sheets
of paper.
Need more convincing to choose paperless billing?
If just half of the nation’s paper invoices went electronic, it would
eliminate 12 billion pieces of paper, save almost 1 million trees,
and reduce the carbon dioxide footprint by almost 250,000 tons.
Electronic billing and payment also cuts postage costs, saves time,
and can be handled without leaving your home.
Ready to go paperless? It’s safe and simple. Visit MGED.com, have
your bill handy, and get started with just one click!
Keep gas meters clear
Make your natural gas meter a No-Snow Zone, and keep it clear this
winter. Gas meters need room to breathe for safety’s sake, and we
need access to avoid estimated bills. Keep appliance and heating vents
clear, too, to avoid deadly CO build-up. Find details at MGED.com
under Happening.
TOWN LINES (and notices)
It’s time to license your dog. All area residents are required to license
their dogs each year beginning January 1. The registration period ends March 31 for
Middleborough residents, and April 30 for Lakeville residents. Dog owners can complete
mail-in forms or stop by their Town Clerk’s office. Details are online at middleborough.
com/clerk and lakevillema.org/town_clerk.
Smart911 Service comes to Middleborough. Middleborough residents
can now create a safety profile for their household with any information they want
911 call takers and first responders to have. In an emergency, the information will
immediately display on the 911 call taker’s screen, thus saving potentially critical time.
Sign up online at smart911.com.
2015 Lakeville Town Census is now underway. Annual census forms
have been mailed to each household in Lakeville and need to be returned, even if there
are no changes from last year. The census establishes legal residence for voting and
other town benefits, and is also crucial to determine grants, federal and state aid, and
school enrollments. If you need a form or have questions, contact the Lakeville Town
Clerk’s office, 508-946-8800.
Easter Eggstravaganza set for March 28. All are welcome at the Easter
Eggstravaganza planned for March 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Betty’s Neck, 57 Long
Point Road, Lakeville. Rain/snow date is April 4. Enjoy narrated nature walks at 10:30
and 11, or bring a basket for an Easter egg hunt at noon (for ages 2-5) and 1 (for ages
6-10). Refreshments will be available. For questions or to volunteer, call Nancy Yeatts at
508-498-4347.
Help for those who can’t afford to lose energy. If your home needs
repairs or upgrades to make it more energy efficient and you can’t afford to fix the
problem, there’s a Weatherization Assistance Program that may be able to help.
For heating system repairs or replacement, the Home Energy and Retrofit Task
Weatherization Assistance Program (HEARTWAP) offers low-income homeowners access
to professionals who can assess your heating system, make recommendations, and
perform needed work. Income-eligible homeowners must be at or below 200% of the
Federal Poverty Guidelines, and eligible for the current Fuel Assistance Program.
For insulation and minor energy efficiency repairs, the Weatherization Program offers
help to both homeowners and renters. Qualified households can have their home
evaluated, receive recommendations, and have efficiency measures installed by a
professional contractor. The program is available to Fuel Assistance eligible households,
with priority given to high-energy users, those with children under 6, elderly, and
disabled.
If you see a downed
wire, STAY AWAY and
call us for help.
DIRECTORY
Emergency:
Gas
508-947-1535
Electric 508-947-3023
Service:
Customer Service & Billing
508-947-1371
Gas Service Questions
508-947-1535
Electric Service Questions
508-947-3023
Payment locations:
Main office:
32 S. Main St., Middleborough
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Pay Boxes:
Main office parking lot
32 S. Main St. Middleborough
Oak Point
Middleborough
Savas Plaza
Route 18, Lakeville
Trucchi’s Plaza
Route 28, Middleborough
Holiday Closing:
Monday, April 20
Patriots’ Day
Commission Meetings:
Meetings are typically held the
second or third Wednesday of each
month at 7:30 p.m. in the Townhall
Selectmen’s meeting room at 10
Nickerson Ave., Middleborough.
Please call 508-947-1371 to confirm
dates and times.
Board of Commissioners
Daniel Farley
John “Jack” F. Healey
Glenn Montapert
Thomas Murphy
Terri M. Scott
Services are provided at no cost subject to household income eligibility, specific dollar
limits, and funding availability. These programs are funded by state and federal sources,
and are also supported by grants from MGED for our customers. For all program details,
Middleborough residents can visit sscac.org; Lakeville residents visit cfcinc.org.
30% post consumer recycled
MGED.com