Oct. 10--MILFORD -- The city has saved $886,000 as a result of negotiations for its energy needs in two years.

Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. told the Board of Aldermen at a meeting this week of the savings; he said he has negotiated $378,000 in savings for municipal energy costs, in addition to $508,000 the city already saves by participating in the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities energy consortium since 2007.

The mayor said the city spends $4 million annually on energy for city government operations.

Altogether, the savings are $886,000 since 2007, the mayor said.

Richetelli said watching the energy markets decrease significantly helped him to decide to get the special pricing organized by CCM late last month.

"This is the first time in eight years that we have been able to procure rates that were comparable to, or below, the base rates of the existing contract with TransCanada, our supplier," Richetelli said.

Typically when building the city budget the mayor said it's common to anticipate a significant increase in energy costs.

In 2007, the city was paying United Illuminating Co. $0.126 per kilowatt hour, under a five-year contract.

By using the CCM energy consortium that year, the city received a 15.4 percent savings with a rate of $0.10665/kwh from TransCanada through 2012.

Richetelli then recently renegotiated the agreement with TransCanada through December 2014, and the city was able to lower its rate to $0.09845/kwh for another 5 percent savings.

"From the $0.126/kwh that the city was paying in 2007 to the new rate, Milford has lowered its municipal energy costs by nearly 22 percent," Richetelli said.

He said the prices Milford just bid on are actually lower than what the city got in 2005.

Richetelli said he is looking for more energy savings inside City Hall.

He said 72 light bulbs will be replaced with more efficient bulbs, and new light bulbs will be placed in the aldermanic chambers, the lobby and hallways.

He said, "This move toward greater energy efficiency is expected to pay dividends for the taxpayer for many years." Brian McCready can be reached at briannhregister@gmail.com or 789-5719.

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