City reimbursed for unmetered account

By Angie Landsverk

Wisconsin Public Service has reimbursed the city of Waupaca $41,242.02 for an unmetered account that should have been dropped in 2003, but was not.

Justin Berrens, the city’s public works director, shared this information with the common council during its Jan. 21 meeting.

The account was related to street lights on West Fulton Street.

“The first inquiry was last March. That was the first time we asked WPS about this account, that we saw the account and were wondering what it was,” Berrens said.

There was communication back and forth between the city and WPS.

Kathy Kasza, the city’s finance director and treasurer, told the Waupaca County Post the city received the payment of $41,242.02 from WPS on Dec. 23.

She said it was applied to the General Fund, the fund from which it was originally paid.

The account was discovered when Berrens was making sure several WPS accounts for a downtown project had been consolidated as they were supposed to be.

That project was the reconfiguration of parking around the city square in 2018.

It included lighting upgrades.

“We had several WPS meters,” he said. “We were able to reduce it to one.”

Berrens wanted to make sure everything had been done correctly.

Unmetered account discovered

During the course of that work, city staff noticed an unmetered account on West Fulton Street with a high dollar amount, he said.

“We have numerous meters for all the lights on West Fulton Street,” Berrens said. “We were trying to figure out where it was.”

West Fulton Street includes three sets of traffic signals, plus street lights, he said.

There are 10 meters for them.

Deputy City Clerk Barb Robbert assisted him in going through information about the various accounts.

Berrens learned there was initially an error where the city was under billed on West Fulton Street.

The error was rectified, he said.

That was explained in a Jan. 27, 2003 letter to John Edlebeck from Tom McDowell, who was an account executive at WPS.

Edlebeck was Waupaca’s public works director at the time. He held the position from 1996 to 2015.

“About a month ago, I discovered a section of lights on West Fulton Street between Hillcrest Drive and Western Avenue that have never been billed to the city for the electricity used,” McDowell wrote in that letter. “The lights were installed in either late 1989 or early 1990, approximately 12 years ago.”

He said each side was fed from an unmetered electric service.

McDowell said WPS needed to start billing for them and would also backbill the city for the 24 months allowed by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC).

He also told Edlebeck the city needed to install metering pedestals at those two service points when the weather warmed up.

“Once completed, we will meter the use and very likely set them up on a time-of-use rate if the city desires,” McDowell said. “We will continue to bill them unmetered based on the above calculation until the metering pedestals are installed and meters are set.”

Berrens said the metering pedestals McDowell referred to were installed.

However, Berrens is not sure sure how the communication was handled, because after the meters were installed, the unmetered account was not dropped.

WPS is regulated by the PSC and follows state statutes, so Berrens said he is confident the amount WPS returned to the city is correct.