Will You Be Buying Cheaper Electricity from Marion?

Remember the of a Florida-based company establishing a "plasma power plant" in Marion, which would effectively use a laser to turn trash into steam?

Well, Marion City Manager Lon Pluckhahn thinks that, while they're at it, we should be able to buy electricity from them and others, so the city can provide electricity as a municipal utility company.

At last night's Marion City Council Meeting, the council discussed a feasibility study to see if they can create such a thing from renewable energy sources like plasma power.

It's too early to tell how the utility would be set up, but our neighbors to the north, the City of Cedar Falls, has had an established energy utility — the non-profit Cedar Falls Utilities — for over 60 years.

In that system, the City Council created a five-person board to oversee the utility, and the mayor makes appointments to the board. Each board member serves a term of six years. 

The prices seem pretty affordable, too. Cedar Falls Utilities charges 43.50 for a speed of 12mbs, while Mediacom offers a standard rate of $65.95 for their 12mbs service, which is not listed on their website (I had to call and pretend to be interested in a 24 month plan to find out). Their electricity rates also seems to be cheaper than Alliant Energy's current service in the area.

But there's a few hurdles to cross before we get theoretically cheaper energy from the city. 

The feasibility study, which comes back in September, will determine whether it will even work in Marion. After that, voters would have to approve the utility and it would have to be approved by the Iowa Utilities Board.

What do you guys think, should Marion go for it? Would you buy it if they did?