Harold DePriest, Warren McEwen and EPB Board Chairman Joe Ferguson
EPB officials on Tuesday morning released a report by Mauldin & Jenkins, the independent accounting firm charged with analyzing the process errors that led to questions about billing for public street lights, that gives a bottom line figure that EPB owes the city of Chattanooga $17,049.
Harold DePriest, EPB president, said that is a starting point for ongoing talks with the city to settle the issue.
He said the settlement process is being slowed down by two lawsuits brought by Don Lepard, president of Global Green Lighting.
Mr. DePriest called the suits "absolutely frivolous" and said EPB will file motions this week to "ask that they be thrown out."
EPB officials said, "The Mauldin & Jenkins report shows that although process errors caused EPB to incorrectly bill for the energy usage of about 6,000 lights, these costs are largely offset by the fact that all 26,000 lights in Chattanooga’s street light system as a whole burned 177 hours longer each year and used 5% more power due to line losses than previously reported. Other offsetting cost factors included facilities charges, the retirement of lights and maintenance charges.
"Mauldin & Jenkins began by analyzing thousands of documents including TVA rate schedules and power use studies, EPB process information and work documentation, and the City of Chattanooga’s street light power bills going back seven years. Based on its findings, Mauldin & Jenkins then calculated a 'pro-forma' bill for the city of Chattanooga for every month from January 2007 to January 2014."
Warren McEwen, a partner with Mauldin & Jenkins, who led the analysis summarized the findings by reading from the report: “The analysis of the city of Chattanooga street light billings for eighty-nine months indicates a net overbilling of $17,049.”
Mr. DePriest said the Mauldin & Jenkins Report "provides a good starting point for working directly with the City of Chattanooga and other municipalities to reach a fair resolution on the issue.
“Although the city auditor and Mauldin & Jenkins reached differing conclusions about some of the offsetting costs, we now have the information we need to sit down with our city partners and find a solution that takes into account all of the factors in this complicated situation.”
Mr. DePriest said, “Don Lepard filed his lawsuits even though Chattanooga, Red Bank, and East Ridge did not agree to join him. Later this week, we will be filing a motion to dismiss on the grounds that his suit has no merit.”
Despite the lawsuits, Mr. DePriest "reaffirmed EPB’s commitment to moving forward in partnership with the City of Chattanooga and the other municipalities. Our goal is to find an agreeable solution for all parties. That’s the only way to ensure the best result for citizens of our local communities who are also EPB’s customers.”
He said EPB is also taking a number of steps to improve its internal processes. The utility has issued a Request for Proposals seeking bids from contractors to conduct a complete physical inventory of all street lights and private lighting in its service footprint. Once the initial inventory is complete, EPB plans to verify its total light inventory on a rolling three-year schedule.