Trying to improve electricity bills
The city of Summerside is planning to improve the way it receives payments from utility customers by accepting online payments, as well as “budget billing.” The new feature will allow Summerside Electric customers to pay the same amount each month, based on the average per month consumption for the previous year. This will help avoid spikes in electric bills caused by seasonal changes in how much energy customers use. These changes to the payment options come from feedback from customers as well as the desire to create a streamlined free process. Further details on how to register for the new features will be included in the next series of bills.
Plans for gas tax funding
The city of Summerside has partnered with provincial and federal governments to fund selected infrastructure projects through the gas tax program. The city will partner with five other Island communities on a gas tax application to fund an update of the geographic information for each community. In order to do so, the city will contribute $30,000 to the $200,000 project that will facilitate up-to-date imagery of the city for planning and development matters.
Construction season upon us
City of Summerside technical services staff are continuing to prepare for construction season. Tender documents are being prepared to be issued in coming weeks in order to get work started as soon as weather permits. Tenders for road paving has already closed and work is expected to begin near the end of May. Tenders are currently in different stages of progress for sidewalks, curbing, infill, water and sewer, with those expected to close by the end of April and start by the end of May.
Police statistics for March 2018
Summerside Police Services dealt with over 200 occurrences for the month of March. Here’s how it breaks down:
– Traffic accidents: 29
– Crimes against persons (assaults, threats, etc.): 26
– Crimes against property (thefts, break and enters, mischief, etc.): 93
– Impaired driving offences: 3
– Highway Traffic Act tickets (speeding, stop signs, hand held devices, etc.): 80
– Parking tickets issued: 123
– Parking warnings: 20
– Provincial traffic (fail to remain, due care and attention, disqualified driving): 44
Summerside fire department March report break down
The Summerside fire department dealt with nine paged calls for the month of March. Here’s how it breaks down.
– Alarm panel calls:
– Structural fires: 1
– Electrical fires: 1
– Cancelled calls: 1
– Miscellaneous: 1
– Smoke complaint: 2
A look at Credit Union Place in March
In the month of March 133 new members joined Credit Union Place. In addition, the aquatic centre had 10,877 people visit the facility and 550 to 625 people were using the aquatics facility each day.
Arts in Motion-Chatauqua renamed
Wyatt Heritage Properties Inc. is working on planning the Summerside Arts Festival. The festival, is the renamed Arts in Motion-Chautaqua Festival. The purpose of the name change is to give greater clarity to what the festival represents, which is the promotion and celebration of Summerside’s and the Island’s vibrant arts community. The new name will also allow a broader scope of inclusion for future growth.
Electrical services breakdown
Electric generation was 7,851 kilowatt-hours for five test runs on March 13, 20, 26, 27 and 28 consisting of 8.4 engine run hours. Wind power production contributed to 54 per cent of the city’s power coming from renewable energy. The peak electricity for the month was 22.6 megawatts.
