As Wiscasset selectmen and other residents June 25 worked to understand Johnson Controls’ proposed energy project, State Rep. Edward Polewarczyk, R – Wiscasset, determined, as proposed, the project’s costs and the guaranteed energy savings over the 20-year debt are a “wash.” Any energy savings beyond that are unknown, Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield said. Whitfield and Polewarczyk asked the most questions in the public hearing at Wiscasset Community Center’s Senior Center.

“The world could change, and we could save $10, or it could be we save $10 million because energy costs go up that much over 20 years,” Whitfield said. She asked Johnson Controls representative Dean Angeledes if she was saying that right. He nodded. At other points, he and others explained the savings, as proposed, would exceed the payments by a cumulative, $64,000 over that 20-year period. 

Selectmen’s Vice Chair Pam Dunning said, for someone outside the industry to understand the town is not making a big sum off the project, clear wording is needed. Otherwise, taxpayers will ask where the savings are, and if their tax bills are going down, Dunning said.

“I can’t stop tax bills. But I can try to stop them from going up,” Angeledes said.

He said if the town nods the project, the firm would seek banks’ bids; the bank picked would put $1.9 million into escrow for the construction project; and the energy savings would offset the payments, “100%.”

“There’s no out of pocket, or up front cost to the town, whatsoever. Zero,” Angeledes told selectmen. 

The firm has usually figured a project will take 12 months, but is now figuring 16 months in case of supply chain issues, he said. Schools and other buildings could be open their normal hours and the firm will work around those, Angeledes said. 

Heat pumps are not part of the project because ones that can work in Maine’s below zero temperatures are just starting to be built, and are “extremely costly,” he said.

Cassaundra Rose said the Wiscasset Climate Action Team she chairs would be interested in helping the board and the firm find funding sources for a switch to heat pumps, as a move toward electrical energy she said does not create the air quality problems of fossil fuels.

The savings heating, venting and air conditioning (HVAC) work would bring fell about $150,000 short of offsetting the cost for that, so it was not proposed, Angeledes said. Town Manager Dennis Simmons noted the town already has about $300,000 approved for HVAC work. Voters approved it a couple years ago, Simmons said.

HVAC could be added to the project, with a change order to the agreement, Angeledes said. 

While the town has not committed to this project, Angeledes reiterated the firm’s willingness to also help with others, including the sewer treatment plant move and potentially a new town hall.

The energy project’s proposed solar panels at the high school would be ground-mounted; the gym roof would not support them, Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson said.