posted April 23, 2008
EPB officials said they are getting positive feedback on their planned cable TV venture, and said they still welcome input from the community.
Harold DePriest, president, said, "We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response from the community and we want to continue to hear our customers’ thoughts and opinions on this project. If this is what you still want – or if this is something you don’t want – let us know.
"Call us at 648-1EPB, email us at www.epb.net, or just stop us on the street and tell us what you think. We are a community-owned company, so we will only move forward with offering Fiber to the Home services if our community wants us to."
Joe Ferguson, board chairman, said,
“Last week, we had the pleasure of letting our customers know that the lawsuit brought by the TCTA in Davidson County has been dismissed. And yesterday, Comcast filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County citing very similar charges as those in the prior suit, which was dismissed on all counts.
“But we are confident that we will be able to bring a fiber optic Smart Grid and, ultimately, fiber optic communication services to Chattanooga.”
He said, "We feel the community has told us very clearly they want us to bring Fiber to the Home. And we intend to fight lawsuits and any other roadblocks the cable people try to put in our way.”
Mr. DePriest said, "We have had a good last 24 hours here at EPB. Both our board of directors and Chattanooga’s City Council approved the pricing of electric revenue bonds that we will use to pay for our electric system Smart Grid. We are very pleased - the approved interest rate, just 4.64%, is even lower than we had anticipated.
"This allows us to move forward with the Smart Grid and keep in mind, the bond approved yesterday is only for the Smart Grid. This Smart Grid is good for our community, and we are building it for the good of the community, even if we never offer video to a single customer.
"In a few months, we will seek authorization from our Board for an inter-divisional loan from the electric system - money that we will borrow and pay back – to allow us to offer advanced communication services. And if the board sees fit and we do offer fiber optic services that go direct to your home, these services are a superior technology unknown in Chattanooga residences.
"In light of the lawsuit filed yesterday, we are disappointed that Comcast is obstinate in wasting more time, and their own ratepayers' money, by continuing in their effort to prevent Chattanooga from moving ahead in the world.
"Comcast has filed a very similar suit as the last one by TCTA. Their suit is based on a presumption that we will do something illegal in the future, though the Chancellor in Davidson County found that a bond issuance to build our electric system Smart Grid is an appropriate and legal use of funds. But a Smart Grid alone will not provide video, Internet, and telephone services. To offer those services, we will seek authorization from our board for an inter-divisional loan – something that has not been challenged. So the Davidson County chancellor agrees, our regulator TVA agrees, we’ve studied briefings from Congress and research from EPRI that agree – everyone agrees except Comcast, the dissenting voice in this process."
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