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The Village of Argyle provides a number of services to it's residents and businesses. Listed below are the main services provided.
Argyle Public Library Argyle Public Schools Argyle Community Recycling Program
TO ALL ARGYLE ELECTRIC UTILITY CUSTOMERS This article is to inform you of Argyle Electric Utility’s recent decision to enter into a new wholesale Power Agreement with Dairyland Power Cooperative. We are confident that the Agreement represents a fair and mutually beneficial arrangement and that it is the very best power purchase deal currently available to Argyle on the market. As you may know, Argyle’s current contract with Dairyland will expire April 30th of 2008. The current agreement is a fixed price contract that has provided Argyle with incredibly low rates for the past ten years or so. In addition to low energy prices, this contract has allowed Argyle to use its own diesel and hydro generators to occasionally provide power to Dairyland when their plants and power lines have problems meeting demands. Our generators therefore give us contract negotiating power in the form of capacity credits, since Dairyland relies on us to provide them with these services. Unfortunately, it is no longer economical for wholesale providers such as Dairyland to continue offering fixed price contracts. This is due to rapidly rising costs of transporting coal and to the increased costs of natural gas and other fuels used by Dairyland. In addition, power suppliers have had to upgrade their plants to meet new environmental standards and state requirements for environmentally friendly green power such as wind power. This situation is leading to significant and unavoidable cost increases for our purchased electricity. Foreseeing these cost increases, Argyle undertook efforts beginning in 2004 to procure the most economical power supply arrangements it possibly could. First, Argyle entered into a new agency agreement with 15 other city utilities, maximizing its buying power through joint action, creating the Upper Midwest Municipal Power Agency ("UMMPA"). Secondly, Argyle engaged special legal counsel (Boardman, Suhr, Curry and Field of Madison) and consulting services (Utility Management Services) to develop a wholesale bidding process. Requests for proposals were sent to 19 different power suppliers in the Midwest, and Dairyland was the lowest cost provider. Finally, Argyle and representatives from the other 15 cities worked for over a year to negotiate a new wholesale power agreement with Dairyland. The entire process took approximately fifteen months and yielded a comprehensive "Master Agreement" that was unanimously approved by the UMMPA Board of Directors and recommended for approval and execution by UMMPA's members, including Argyle. The new DPC Agreement does represent a significant cost increase over the existing agreement. It is not a fixed price contract, but rather sets energy prices at the actual incremental cost of production with a negotiated margin for Dairyland. In June of 2007, Argyle also started receiving monthly charges from MISO (Midwest Independent System Operator) for ancillary and Market Pass-through charges for Argyle’s load on the ATC (American Transmission Company) transmission system. These are new charges had not been passed through to Argyle prior to June of 2007. How these cost increases will impact Argyle’s retail rates will of course ultimately be determined by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. With these increases in power supply costs to Argyle, we are forced to apply to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for an increase in electric rates. However, even with these projected increases, Argyle’s rates should remain lower than most other cities in Wisconsin and neighboring states. The new Agreement contains many other potential cost-saving features, including retention of value for local excess capacity; a dispatch or market "buy-through" option that will allow Argyle to monitor the market and exercise control over operation of its own generation; implementation of load management programs; and opportunities for base load generation ownership. The Agreement also contains an opt-out provision, that will allow Argyle to continue evaluating and potentially securing more economical purchase opportunities that may become available in the wholesale market, either on its own or in conjunction with other UMMPA members. In short, we believe the new Dairyland contract reflects the Argyle Electric Utility’s ongoing commitment to provide reliable, low cost energy to its customers. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Argyle’s rates or services.
Randy Martin, Superintendent Argyle Electric Utility
Argyle Village Board Wayne Wilson Brad Ostby Neale Tollakson Keith Baertschi Tim Hill Shane Johnson Chad Chapman
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