| (08/10/06) - Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic
today announced the appointment of a task force to review operations of Akron's thermal
energy system that provides steam heat and chilled water to downtown businesses,
government buildings and three Akron hospitals. "We
have thousands of downtown employees whose workplaces are heated by Akron Thermal. I
want to assure everyone that we are doing everything possible to look at the long-range
future of this system," said the mayor.
Chairing the Thermal Energy Task Force is former Akron
mayor Roy Ray, now director of state government affairs for the University of Akron, which
is the largest single customer of Akron Thermal.
The mayor said that an interruption of service would not
only cause significant disruptions to business, but health and safety concerns as well.
Among the major customers of the system are Children's Hospital, Akron General Medical
Center and Akron City Hospital. All three health systems will be represented on the task
force.
The City of Akron owns the steam plant and, since 1995, has
leased the system to Akron Thermal to supply steam, hot water, and chilled water to
downtown buildings.
"A district energy provider like Akron Thermal can
provide economies of scale that are not available to individual customers," said the
mayor. "By pooling our resources, all customers can benefit from one physical plant,
rather than making independent investments."
Other members of the task force to be chaired by Ray will
include representatives of business users, Summit County government, the Akron-Summit
County Public Library, and others to be announced later.
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