Who owns Marietta
Power?
In 1906 the City of Marietta established the Marietta Board
of Lights and Water. This company was created to provide low cost
electric power to the citizens of Marietta and Cobb County. A
Board of local citizens and business people govern the actions
of the utility ensuring all utility customers are represented
and that the economic benefits of the utility are retained and
utilized in the community.
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Does Marietta
Power pay interest on deposits?
No. Marietta Power is a non-profit publicly owned utility and thereby
exempt from paying interest. All monies made from interest is
channeled back into the utility and City, keeping rates and taxes
down. Residential deposits are refundable after one year if there
have been no late payments on the account. In an effort to maintain
good customer relations, Marietta Power established a policy in
1996 to pay interest on commercial security deposits. This is
paid once yearly to customers that have maintained a good payment
history.
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Is Marietta
Power under the Public Service Commission (PSC)?
No. The main role of the
PSC is to ensure that consumers receive reliable utility services
at reasonable rates, while providing utilities with an opportunity
to earn a reasonable return for the investors. Because Marietta
Power is a Municipally owned utility (non-profit) it is not under
the authority of the PSC.
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What is demand metering
for commercial accounts?
Marietta Power uses a demand interval length of 30 minutes. The
service load is displayed in kilowatts (kw). The peak demand is
the highest load for any 30 minute period within the month. The
demand is a necessary factor to determine the bill for a commercial
account, because there is an increased cost to supply the necessary
power to service locations with higher demands. The "billing demand"
will be the greater of 60% of the highest winter demand (October
- May) or 95% or the highest summer demand (June - September)
for the commercial electric rate.
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What is fire line
metering?
An ordinance through the fire department requires commercial buildings
to have a fire protection
system installed. A separate water tap
is made for these sprinkler systems and a detector check
meter
is set. Unless there is a fire (or testing of the line or leak),
there should never be any usage.
All fire line metering is set
up in a separate cycle and route. This route is then read by radio
remote
signal and monitored monthly. If water usage is detected
two consecutive months, a letter is sent to
the customer. Any
charges for water usage for the third month will be added to the
customer's bill.
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