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The Maryland Nursery & Landscape Association and Maryland Greenhouse Growers Association have banded together in fleshing out plans for an electricity co-op that would help members save money on their electric bills. Together, the Maryland Green Industry Co-op have enlisted the help of consultant Richard Anderson of CQI Associates, Columbia, Md. The firm has helped more than 90 entities in the state form electricity co-ops.
The associations met with Anderson during the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show in Baltimore earlier in January for a question-and-answer session. The groups have chosen to go ahead with the formation of the cooperative and offer participation to their members.
“Energy prices never go down, so what we’re trying to do is go work with our consultant to help our participating members get the best electric rates,” explains Vanessa Finney, MNLA executive director. “The consultants job will be to follow the market and request bids from energy suppliers based on a certain amount of kilowatt hours needed for MNLA and MGGA. The consultant will be on the lookout for the best rate and if our members choose to accept the rate, we’ll try to lock it in for 18 to 36 months.”
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The Maryland Nursery & Landscape Association is working toward helping its members save money on their electric bills. On a national level, the Professional Landcare Network supports legislation for association health plans that would let members pay lower premiums for health insurance. Are these programs that you would take advantage of if your state and national associations offered them? Share your thoughts on the Lawn & Landscape Online Message Board. Here are some discussion questions to get you started: |
Finney tells Lawn & Landscape that the 20 participating companies are necessary for the co-op to be made official; however, she notes that once companies have joined the co-op they may still choose not to accept the utility rate acquired by the consultant. “We’ll offer the rate the consultant comes back with to the companies that have joined and they can still say yes or no,” she says. “There’s not a lot to lose, because even if a company joins the co-op, they’re not committed to the rate we get. This is really just to hedge against future market rates and if we can get an industry rate that’s a few pennies below the market rate, our members can benefit from it.”
Finney says CQI Associates has worked with chambers of commerce in Maryland, which prompted the idea that associations like MNLA and MGGA could get similar benefits. On average, CQI reports that co-op participants generally see rates 8 to 10 percent lower than the market rate, and as much as 15 percent lower in some instances.
About 45 association members attended the discussion on Jan. 12. Prior to the meeting MNLA and MGGA polled their memberships and determined there was enough interest to move forward with the co-op plans. Since the meeting, the associations have begun sending out applications to members. Companies interested in coming on board have an upfront fee of $250 to pay for the administrative costs of developing the program.
“We’re in the process of getting information and making applications,” Anderson says. “We hope to be able to take advantage of an optimum point in the market at mid-March to mid-May. With a healthy recovery of the gas market and warm winter weather, it’s a good time to go to pricing, especially with forecasts of a fall hurricane season as bad as last year.”
Currently, only electric co-ops are active, though there are indications that a natural gas deregulation could prompt the development of co-ops for that resource in the future.