For the second year in a row, the university is bracing for an energy budget deficit after natural gas costs could lead to an extra $4.6 million on its energy bill. Officials have no short-term resolution to the problem and for the first time do not expect to pay the whole bill.
The university is largely dependent on natural gas to generate electricity, but the cost has risen 76 percent in the last five years, outstripping the university and the U.S. Energy Department’s projections, according to a Facilities Management report.
If the university had based its energy budget off U.S. Energy Department projections, it would be $10 million shy of the newly projected $47.6 million energy costs.
This is the second year in a row natural gas prices have risen unexpectedly, though this year the university compensated for the extra cost. That year, the university’s energy bill was about $40 million, though it only budgeted $33 million.
The university generates about two-thirds of its own electricity through natural gas-powered turbines, said Frank Brewer, assistant vice president for facilities management. Officials aren’t optimistic the measures they plan to implement will close the shortfall this year.
“I do not believe it will come anywhere near solving the problem,” Brewer said. “I think we will have half, if not more, of that problem’s cost in fiscal year ’06, unless there’s a drop in natural gas prices.”
Extra energy costs from this fiscal year, which ends in June, will be transferred to the next year’s budget as debt, said John Porcari, vice president for administrative affairs. Officials hope several energy saving initiatives will eventually whittle the debt down to nothing.
The university buys electricity from local utilities instead of generating its own if it is more cost effective, Brewer said, though this cost may also increase by up to 25 percent this fiscal year, according to the report.
In the past, the university installed low-energy light bulbs and components into a monitoring system to better control buildings’ temperature.
Officials will launch an informational campaign to encourage energy conservation next semester, Brewer said.
Students, faculty and staff can expect colder winters and hotter summers indoors if the university decides to alter the standard 72-degree temperature in campus buildings to reduce heating and air-conditioning costs. Faculty and staff may also be inconvenienced by network software in offices automatically shutting computers off at a set time. Measures such as these could save about $1.2 million.
Steps such as adding heat and motion sensors to electrical systems in classrooms and bathrooms are also being considered.
The energy conservation initiative is part of a “natural progression,” pushed into the forefront by the recent shortfall, Porcari said.
