Ask Mr. Answer Person: Decorah Power and contracting for service work

(Doug e-mails: "What company did Decorah Power contract to do service work if the municipal electric is voted in?"):

Mr. Answer Person says: "The short answer is that Decorah Power has not contracted with any neighboring utility.  That's because right now both feasibility studies are looking at the finances of switching to a municipal electric utility.  In order to get its financial estimates, Decorah Power figured that a nearby utility would initially provide staffing for the Decorah utility while Decorah ramped up its own staffing.  The cost would be wages and benefits plus a 15 percent fee to make it worthwhile for a utility to do this.  Decorah Power estimates operating costs will come to $1.4 million a year.  

No actual contract has been signed with a nearby utility because 1) voters haven't approved a municipal utility; 2) the Iowa Utilities Board hasn't approved a municipal utility; and 3) money hasn't been raised to pay for a municipal utility.  All of this is at least two or three years away, so there's no need to do this work now."