Prince George city council will consider renewing its agreement with Lakeland Mills to purchase the materials that power the Downtown Renewable Energy System (DRES) at its Monday, April 7 meeting.
The DRES uses wood waste to heat water that gets pumped through three kilometres of piping to heating buildings like Kopar Memorial Arena, the Two Rivers Art Gallery, the Civic Centre, City Hall, the Prince George Law Courts, the Prince George Public Library’s Bob Harkins branch, the Wood Innovation Design Centre, the Ramada Hotel and more.
In 2012, council first approved a 10-year supply agreement with Lakeland Mills.
At the April 7 meeting, council will consider first three readings of a bylaw that will retroactively establish a new term running from July 1, 2022 until Dec. 31, 2026 with the option to renew the agreement through 2027 and 2028.
Senior communications advisor Claire Thwaites confirmed by email that the city and Lakeland have been operating without an agreement since 2022.
“It is standard practice for things like this to be backdated as the negotiations take some time,” she wrote. “There was no impact to the relationship or to the supply while the negotiations took place.”
A report prepared by city staff attached to the meeting agenda said that with the supply of materials representing more than 50 per cent of operating costs, the amended bylaw includes annual rate increases worth five per cent to match the five per cent supply cost increases imposed by Lakeland.
“Additionally, there is a change to late payments,” the report said. “The previous bylaw had a $100 flat charge which is not enough of a deterrent for large bills. The late charge has been changed to 5% to scale with the amount of the bill and to align with the late charges for other utilities such as sewer, water and solid waste.”
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in council chambers on the second floor of Prince George City Hall.
