During the off-season when the lights are out, the scoreboard is off and snow covers the field at Alliance Bank Stadium, the energy bill is still in full play.
The reason: No matter the season, Onondaga County — and that means taxpayers — pays for electricity based on a peak summer night’s energy use. And that’s a lot of extra cost.
“The county is paying a demand charge of at least $6,660 per month, even if the stadium only used $1,998 of energy,” said Lee Klozowski, the director of energy for the county department of facilities management. His office oversees the stadium’s energy use.
As Klozowski explains it, there are two kinds of electrical charges: One is a base rate, which for the stadium in 2009 was $112,000. On top of that is a special charge called the peak-demand charge.
For example, in 2009 the full bill for the stadium was $225,000. The peak-demand charge accounted for $113,000 of that total. Under contract with the county, the Syracuse Chiefs were responsible for $120,000, or the total bill for the five months they play at the stadium.
County officials aren’t happy about the extra cost to taxpayers. “There are savings there for taxpayers if they get rid of the demand charge,” said Bob Antonacci, the Onondaga County Comptroller. “There is vested interest for the stadium to run as efficiently as possible and now it is not efficient.”
The energy supplier is National Grid. Company policy adds a peak-demand charge to the county’s monthly bill for the stadium, said John Fiume, the National Grid executive who oversees the Alliance Bank Stadium’s account. The company has the equipment in place to provide the peak electricity to the stadium at all times, said Fiume, and that justifies the peak-demand charge.
“The nature of a stadium is that they use that peak every so often,” said Fiume. “But we are ready at all times to supply that.”
The Chiefs use the ballpark from April until September. Under the Chiefs’ contract with the county, the baseball team pays the electricity bill only for those months. In the off-season, the county’s contract with the Chiefs gives the electrical bill to taxpayers.
The high season is baseball season- the months of April through September. Here is a look at the breakdown in 2009:
- Peak usage was 800 kilowatts in August.
- Lowest usage was 120 kilowatts in November.
- Peak-demand charge in November was 400 kilowatts, or half the peak.
- The county was charged at least $6,660 in peak-demand charges each month.
The county and the Chiefs are trying to lower its peak use, say county officials and team officials. Among the energy-efficiency efforts: Lower-energy light bulbs, automatic light switches and less heat in winter.
The county and the Chiefs have already switched from florescent light bulbs to lower energy light bulbs. Rooms throughout the stadium had the lower energy bulbs installed, said Brian Elwell, the county’s superintendent for Alliance Bank Stadium.
In past winters, stadium suites, boxes and pressrooms were kept at 50 degrees. This winter, said Elwell, the heat was completely turned off in these rooms. This saves an estimated $7,000 a year, according to an energy audit from 2003.
In addition, automatic light switches were installed throughout the stadium. If there is no motion in a room, the lights automatically turn off. This saves an estimated $11,000 a year, according to that same audit.
The county is still investigating how to cut down on the peak charges during the summer when the Chiefs are playing, say county officials. One option: a generator to run the on-field lights and the scoreboard, the energy hogs of the stadium. A generator for them would save between $60,000 to $80,000 in payments to National Grid, said Klozowski, the director of energy for the county department of facilities management.
In previous years, the Syracuse Chiefs were responsible for paying the total energy bill for the five months they were in season. Not this year.
For the first time, the county is picking up the bill for demand charges all year round, said Jean Smiley, deputy county administrator for physical services. That’s under an amended contract that required the Chiefs to pay the peak-demand charges for two years and the county for two years. Now it’s the county’s turn.
“This gives the county time to pursue a request for a new demand charge” from National Grid, said Smiley.
But a lack of competition leaves few options, said Elwell, the county’s superintendent for Alliance Bank Stadium. Elwell said: “With a phone you can switch to AT&T or Verizon, but with power, there is only one choice and that is National Grid.”
(Rachel Stern is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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