Tagged: Utilities

Customers of Cary's public water utility can now monitor how many gallons they use on an hourly basis.  The town invested $172,553 in a system that updates water usage online.  Cary Financial Director Karen Mills says the new system is meant to make customers more aware of how much water they're using or wasting.

"They can see what's going on with their usage, understanding, for example, their irrigation usage if they have an automated system; when it's running, how long it's running," Mills says.

Progress Energy has reached a tentative deal with the Public Staff on the state Utilities Commission to reduce its request for a rate increase.  The agreement allows a 4.7 percent increase in June, then raises that to 5.7 percent next year.  Progress filed for an 11 percent increase in October.  Public Staff executive director Robert Gruber says it's a fair deal.

"What do they actually need in order to be able to operate reliably and attract investors?  You have to compromise that need with the impact on consumers," Gruber says.

Back in 2007, North Carolina passed the first renewable energy mandate in the Southeast. The new rules say that by the end of this year at least three percent of all electricity needs to come from green sources. The power companies say they'll easily meet that, but they're going to come up short on two fronts. The law includes a provision for electricity from poultry waste and hog manure. The utilities say they can't meet either one of those terms.

Dare County officials are asking residents to conserve power as utilities set up emergency generators on Hatteras Island. Parts of the main highway on the Outer Banks were washed away in four spots near Rodanthe. That left residents who waited out the storm stranded on Hatteras Island. Dare County spokeswoman Cathryn Bryan says emergency crews are taking bare essentials to the hardest hit areas.

Local utilities officials in the Triangle are encouraging residents to check for plumbing leaks in their homes this week. Durham and Cary have partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency in the "Fix a Leak Week" campaign. It works to inform utilities customers about how to check for leaks and step up efforts to conserve water. Cary's director of public works and utilities Steve Brown says toilet leaks are the most common: