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Col. David Maxwell, base commander, addresses base residents at a briefing on the upcoming Resident Energy Conservation Program on Dec. 17 at Little Hall.

Photo by Mike DiCicco

Base residents to start receiving mock energy bills next month

17 Dec 2012 | Mike DiCicco Marine Corps Base Quantico

Next month, residents of base housing at Marine Corps Base Quantico will start receiving statements of their energy consumption for the first time. However, these “mock bills” will be purely for residents’ information until April, when the Resident Energy Conservation Program will begin in earnest on the base. Before then, all who live on base will be required to sign a lease addendum acknowledging that they will be held accountable for their electricity consumption.

“These changes are going to start kicking off in January, but the actual billing cycle and actual impact on your wallet is going to be in the April timeframe,” Col. David Maxwell, base commander, told the residents in attendance at a briefing about the RECP Dec. 18 at Little Hall.

Maxwell said the program was mandated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense as part of an effort to reduce energy consumption across the Department of Defense, with the goal that all government-owned and public-private venture housing will be under the program by October. “So there’s not really a discussion of whether we want to do it,” he added.

The Army started implementing a similar program in 2008, and the Corps piloted RECP last year at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and Marine Corps Recruiting Station Buford, Ga. Maxwell said the Corps’ two pilot locations saw an 8 to 9 percent reduction in energy consumption in base housing as a result.

Under the RECP, average energy consumption will be calculated each month for each group of like-type home models on base. Those whose energy use falls within the band between 10 percent more than average and 10 percent less than average for the month will carry on as if there were no RECP. Those whose consumption exceeds the plus/minus 10 percent buffer will be charged the difference, and those who consume less than 10 percent below average will be credited.

Once a household’s accumulated credits or debits exceed $25, the home will receive either a check or a bill, accordingly.

To discover the current state of energy consumption in base housing, Lincoln Military Housing pulled the March 2012 numbers for the Thomason Park neighborhood.

“Unfortunately, there were some homes that were above that usage-level buffer,” Maxwell said. “Fortunately, there were some homes below that usage level.”

Forty-two percent of households used less than the 1,027 kilowatt hours that represented the lower end of the buffer zone, meaning they would have been credited under the program. Thirty-four percent exceeded the upper buffer limit of 1,142 kilowatt hours, meaning they would have received a debit, and 24 percent fell within the plus/minus 10 percent band.

The average credit would have been $12.33, and the average bill $24.55.

Anja Jacobs, director of client services for Yardi Energy Solutions, the company managing the RECP, said any checks or bills will arrive about a week after the monthly statements. However, she said, residents won’t need to wait for their statements to compare their energy use to that of others in their housing model group.

Since YES is part of the Yardi Systems property management suite the base’s housing management office already uses, Jacobs said, residents will be able to use their existing tenant number to log onto a RECP website and check their current and projected energy use for the pay period. They will also be able to see how they measure up against the current and projected average for their housing type.

Households that include a family member whose special needs require higher energy use can get waivers through the Exceptional Family Member Program or Wounded Warrior Regiment, allowing them to opt out of the program.

Those few exceptions aside, Maxwell said, the program will hold all residents responsible for doing their part to help the base meet the DOD’s energy reduction goals. Whether they get a check or a bill, he said, is up to them.

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com


Marine Corps Base Quantico