Lewes, Delaware is known as the "First
Town in the First State", located where the Delaware Bay
meets the Atlantic Ocean. In
2001, the EIA reported that this publicly owned municipal
utility had just under 3,400 customers and sold a total of
68,307,000 kWh of electricity.
Since 1982, the Lewes Board of Public Works
(BPW) has offered the “Policy for the Purchase of Power and
Energy from Small Power Producers and Co-Generators”; however
the policy has been unused to date.
The BPW offers a restrictive energy metering tariff --
the “No Sale” transaction meter and service option.
Under the single meter “No Sale” option, the customer
generates energy to supply all or a portion of the load and
purchases only the requirements in excess of generation. The
meter would only measure the net electrical flow to the customer
without compensation for excess customer generation.
Other metering and service options are available with
“avoided cost” reimbursement for the customer’s excess
generation but these require an additional meter.
Presently, the Lewes Board of Public Works
offers no energy efficiency or renewable energy programs and has
no history of doing so. The
City of Lewes estimates an addition of at least 110 residential
new construction homes during the next year.
The Lewes Board of Public Works is a member of the
Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation and is under contract
with Conectiv Power Delivery to manage two 1.89 MW generating
facilities owned by the City of Lewes, Delaware.
