Council signs green power deal: Clare and Gilbert Valleys the only Mid North council to join contract

Northern Argus
Wednesday 12/12/2007 Page: 17

The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council is one of 24 local government bodies to enter into a three year $8 million contract for the supply of black and green energy. Clare and Gilbert Valleys is the only Mid North council to take up the offer from power supplier Powerdirect. The contract will start on January 1, 2008 and is for power supply to buildings and facilities which use more than 160 kilowatt hours of power annually.

The cost effective electricity supply includes 20 percent "Green Power" and has been made possible through bulk purchasing by participating councils through the Local Government Association. "While GreenPower is slightly more costly than traditional power supply the cost has been offset by the overall savings in the bulk purchase of power by Councils," Local Government Corporate Services chief executive officer, Paul Slater said.

"The new contract which has been carefully stitched together by Local Government Corporate Services, working with the various power retailers to achieve the best deal at the best price for the 24 Councils and their communities,"he said. "Councils are committed to achieving the target of 20 percent renewable energy before the 2014 deadline and with this contract more than one-third of councils will be energy compliant by 2008. In October, Premier Rann challenged councils to meet this target and I must say councils have risen magnificently to his challenge.

"One of the recommendations from the LGA's 2005 Independent Inquiry into the Financial Sustainability of Local Government was for Councils to look at ways of minimising operating costs by entering into collaborative approaches to service provision," Mr Slater said. "This new power supply contract with Power Direct meets this recommendation and will deliver cost and service advantages to communities."

In January this year 38 Councils opted to buy 20 percent of their electricity as GreenPower which represents 80 percent of Local Government electricity purchase in the State and is the environmental equivalent of taking 3900 cars off the road. Mr Slater said the new contract is in addition to the one signed in January. Greenpower is generated by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, water or biomass. In SA it is mostly wind energy.