City claims that CL&P owes it $606K

Connecticut Light and Power owes the city at least $606,000 for past overbilling of streetlight charges, city officials said.

Ken Johnson, a consultant from Municipal Energy and former GOP mayoral contender, said that his company and city employees have found scores of mistakes that cost the taxpayers big bucks.

In one case, he said, the power company including charges for a streetlight on Get High Way, a non-existent street. Johnson said the name likely described what the utility crew was doing at the time.

Under orders from the state Department of Utility Control, CL&P offered two years ago to pay Bristol $86,839 for billing errors.

Mitch Gross, spokesman for the power company, has said the company had “some shortcomings” in its billing but fixed them after digging deep into its records to bring the issue to a close.

Bristol is one of 50 Connecticut municipalities challenging the state-ordered payment levels. City leaders are meeting Monday with the officials from the attorney general’s office to review their case.

City councilors this week unanimously backed the effort to collect more than $606,000 from the utility after hearing what Johnson reported his firm had found.

“We finally got this thing off the dime,” city Councilor Mike Rimcoski said.

Rimcoski said that given the “poor management” by CL&P over the years, he’s confident the city will collect much more than the $86,839 initially offered even if Bristol winds up with less than it is seeking.

It’s likely to take at least a couple of years to complete the appeal, Johnson said.
Municipal Energy was hired a year and a half ago for $10,000 plus 15 percent of whatever the city earns above $86,000 originally offered by the utility giant.
If the city were to get $$606,000, Johnson’s firm would collect about $87,000 for its services.

Johnson ran for mayor last year, but lost to Democrat Art Ward. His company was hired by the city, which has long been controlled by Democrats, before he entered the race.

Johnson had a rocky relationship with former Mayor William Stortz, but Johnson and city officials said that since Ward took over, there has been a cooperative spirit between the consultant and the city.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Bristol moves to take on CL&P over past billing errors

The city is angling to overturn a state ruling in hopes of nabbing more than $300,000 beyond what regulators agreed that Connecticut Light & Power owes Bristol for past billing mistakes.
To get the cash, city attorneys and consultants will have to convince Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the state Department of Public Utility Control or a state court to reopen the issue and allow it to make the case that the $86,000 offered by CL&P for streetlight billing errors is inadequate.
“It’s not going to be a quick fix,” said city Councilor Cliff Block.
Municipal Energy, the consultant hired by the city to handle the issue, says it has found more than $400,000 in past billing errors – money it says the taxpayers should get, plus interest that could swell the total.
Mitch Gross, spokesman for the power company, said that after “a very thorough process” that met with the approval of the attorney general and the DPUC, the company issued checks to municipalities that had been overcharged, including Bristol.
Because there had been “some shortcomings in our process” for billing on streetlights, Gross said, “We did what we had to do to clarify the situation.”
“We dug deep into our records to bring this to a conclusion. Regulators were satisfied with our accounting. When we issued checks, we closed the books on this issue,” he said.
What Bristol is aiming for is to convince authorities to reopen the books.
City Councilor Mike Rimcoski said that CL&P demonstrated “very poor bookkeeping and mismanagement” over the years.
The utility “is not a friend of the people” in the way it has handled the entire issue, he said.
“Mike Tyson went to jail for what CL&P is doing to the citizens of Connecticut,” Rimcoski said.
Tyson, a former heavyweight boxing champion, served three years in an Indiana prison following his 1992 conviction for rape.
Gross said he didn’t want to respond to Rimcoski’s comments.
Rimcoski joked that he’ll have to keep a close eye on his electricity bills in the future.
Ken Johnson, president of Municipal Energy, said that the city “has been absolutely wonderful” in its cooperation with his firm to nail down past mistakes on the streetlight billing.
Johnson’s firm represents 50 cities and towns that are challenging CL&P’s refunds. Bristol is one of the first to reach the point where it is ready to make a formal appeal to change the ruling.
Block said that any extra money won’t come for a long time.
The first step, he said, is to convince Blumenthal to side with the municipalities that believe they were shortchanged by the DPUC decision.
“Ultimately, we need to make a very convincing case” that can sway Blumenthal and others to the belief “that CL&P has not provided a full and fair settlement.”
It’s likely to take at least a couple of years to complete the appeal, Johnson said.
Municipal Energy was hired a year and a half ago for $10,000 plus 15 percent of whatever the city earns above $86,000 originally offered by the utility giant.
Bristol has been in the forefront of the fight over streetlight billing because its public works department kept old billing records that showed in detail when lights were installed or removed and how the billing took place.
Few municipalities have anything close to the detail available in Bristol’s records.

Here are a number of reports from Municipal Energy that lay out in detail what's at the root of the controversy. The company's president, Ken Johnson, kindly provided them at my request.

Municipal Energy Report to the Streetlight Committee (April 3, 2008)

Energy's Bristol's Refund Calculation Summary

Municipal Energy New Found Report on March 2, 2008

Municipal Energy New Found Lights (March 7, 2008)

Municipal Energy's New Found spreadsheet

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Most recent streetlighting report

Jim Krone, the new president of Municipal Energy Consulting Group, kindly forwarded to me the most recent report on the streetlight overcharges case that his firm has submitted to the city. Here it is:

July 26, 2007

The Honorable William T. Stortz
Mayor
City of Bristol
111 North Main St.
Bristol, CT 06010

Re: Status Report- Investigation into CL&P’s Streetlight Overcharges for the City of Bristol under DPUC Docket No. 04-01-01

Dear Mayor Stortz:

Here’s a brief update of activities under the Municipal Energy contract with the City of Bristol:

June-- No activity to report. Ken Johnson postponed a meeting scheduled for June 12, 2007 with Public Works and Corporation Counsel representatives due to a death in the family.

July—June 12 meeting rescheduled for July 18: Meeting Summary:

Date: Wednesday July 18, 2007
Place: City Hall- Public Works Conference Rm.
Time: 9:00 am.
Attendees: Mayor William T. Stortz, Paul Strawderman, Atty. Richard Lacey, Jason Morocco, Ken Johnson, Karen Vita.

Ken Johnson outlined meeting agenda and lead discussion of the following:

Ken reviewed summary of May 7 meeting, provided additional background to aid in the group’s understanding of the issue and provided advice on the next steps to be taken in the effort to help the City of Bristol receive a fair and accurate settlement from CL&P for Streetlight Overcharges. Ken explained his personal role in the streetlighting issue dating back 25 years. He worked as the Company’s streetlight program administrator in the 1980’s and conducted the first internal streetlight audit within CL&P in 1985. Upon leaving CL&P in 2002, Ken started Municipal Energy and is uniquely positioned with both the knowledge and experience to take on CL&P on this issue. gave everyone a look into the past to understand why and how he is so knowledgeable, this comes from his years of service to CL&P. ken explained that it was because of Ethics that he stepped away from his position and sought work in another field. It just so happened that the Streetlight Overcharges became a passion, not to make Ken Johnson a wealthy man but to be honest and help municipalities all over the state to receive a fair settlement.
Ken has worked privately for 5 years on the Municipal Energy side. To date at least 12 million has been paid out to several municipalities in the state of Connecticut.
It has been estimated that approximately $500,000 is owed to the city of Bristol. With the cooperation of the City of Bristol it is believed that we can obtain the monies due. As explained there is extensive research and time involved in this process.
It is believed that Bristol is the perfect proxy for Connecticut due to the significant overcharges.
There were concerns that Richard Lacey brought up in regards to the length of time that has lapsed from the date that the data disc was received and future research. Ken again explained that this is a lengthy process but the end result could benefit the city of Bristol tremendously. Mr. Lacey also inquired as to whether this process can be wrapped up by the end of 2007. The answer is not likely, however with the cooperation from contacts at the Public works dept we can make rapid assessments in regards to research.
The topic of the refund check for $86,839.48 that Bristol is in receipt of, and the concern of cashing the check and having CL&P consider that acceptance as a full and final settlement. Municipal Energy Consulting Group has furnished all of its Municipal clients with sufficient tools such as E mail templates for personalization to be forwarded to the appropriate persons such as the DPUC and CL&P. One template in particular was in regards to the individual town not accepting refund check as final settlement. Once received by Ms. Louise Rickard at the DPUC and receipt in the form of a letter or e mail was sent by her department which in some cases, a municipality may have cashed their refund check once that receipt was received.
While the subject of New Founds was discussed three examples were given by Ken Johnson, one of which was Barber Street, pole #1294 which CL&P reports as a new found. However this is not a new found. Mr. Lacey, Mr. Strawderman and Mr. Morrocco all agreed that they would research this in thier records and advise Mr. Johnson of their findings. Another Pole was spoken of, Battisto Road, pole #8269. This is also a situation where CL&P is calling this a new found. The City of Bristol has been double billed for this light. The third example is a flood light in front of Pasquallicios. Bristol is being charged for this light. The question is who requested this light? Mr. lacey volunteered to go take a look at two of the three lights and research their existence.
Ken Explained the New found light report column by column and explained which each represented. Ken also explained the difference in bulbs and wattages and the cost associated with each.
The Public works Department agreed that the New founds will be looked at first.


May 7, 2007; Ken Johnson meeting with the staff members Paul Strawderman, Jason Morrocco, Richard Lacey
At the May 7 meeting, Ken Johnson provided background on the issue and answered questions to help bring staff up to speed. We discussed the need to ensure that the City has notified CL&P by certified letter that the City is not accepting CL&P’s refund offer as full and final settlement; a copy of the same should be forwarded to Municipal Energy for our files. Ken reported that Municipal Energy is currently gathering electronic data from all client towns and checking CL&P’s calculations, including Bristol’s.
Next action steps include: Municipal Energy will advise and assist Paul & Jason in cross-checking the results of CL&P’s 1999 Group Relamp Audit results and 2003 Municipal Streetlight Audit results for Bristol with City files and records. Municipal Energy has culled CL&P’s electronic files and produced a condensed version of the audits containing “changes” only on CD for Paul & Jason. Bristol staff effort will involve comparing the condensed electronic data with City files and records seeking to reconcile errors in four categories: 1) removes, 2) new founds, 3) overbills, and 4) underbills. Ken Johnson provided a copy of Municipal Energy’s New Founds report for Bristol. The team agreed to focus on ‘new founds’ first. Ken Johnson explained to Richard Lacey that CL&P has ‘taken back’ property tax dollars from Bristol in CL&P’s calculation of Bristol’s refund. Richard will look into the validity/legality of this action. Once the investigation phase is complete, Municipal Energy, with staff input, will perform new refund calculations for Bristol.
Pertinent supporting documents provided to city officials have been attached to this letter.


Respectfully submitted,
Kenneth R. Johnson

CC: R. Lacey
P. Strawderman

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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com