Electric bill kept secret for a year

By Shawn Regan
sregan@eagletribune.com

October 10, 2008 11:18 am

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HAVERHILL — School officials knew as far back as July 2007 that there was a problem with a meter reader at the high school and that the building had rung up a large electricity debt.

In October of last year, National Grid sent school officials information showing the high school owed $366,000 for 23 months of electricity that was not paid for, from November 2005 to September 2007, officials from the power company told the School Committee last night.

The National Grid officials said the company sent the district the actual bills about a year ago. School administrators said they saw those bills for the first time this week, however.

Either way, several School Committee members criticized Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan and Assistant Superintendent Kara Kosmes for not revealing the debt for more than a year. The committee found out about the problem when member Joseph Bevilacqua said he heard about it a few months ago "on the street from a taxpayer."

"The superintendent is wrong to be talking about these issues with a few people in his office behind closed doors," Bevilacqua said. "The School Department hides too much. A chosen few are running things, not the School Committee. This is why the taxpayers don't trust the School Department."

Kosmes said she along with Buchanan and Jeff Dill, the director of school facilities and energy manager, met in May with three representatives from National Grid to try to resolve the matter. She said the group agreed to keep the matter "confidential" because National Grid wanted it that way.

"They were concerned it was a confidential customer billing issue," Kosmes said. "But I always knew we could not resolve this or pay any portion without the approval of the School Committee and the City Council, because it's a bill from a prior fiscal year."

Buchanan said he did not want to report the problem to the School Committee until he investigated and determined for himself exactly how much is owed.

Kosmes defended Buchanan from a volley of criticisms from Bevilacqua and other members, such as that the secret electricity bill was one of the reasons the superintendent has been unable to hire more teachers to reduce large class sizes this year.

"To say the superintendent won't hire teachers because we had an electric bill is insulting to a man I greatly respect," Kosmes said.

National Grid officials said the problem occurred when a meter reader in the building that houses the high school pool was shut off during its renovation.

"We take 100 percent responsibility for the billing error," said Kim Ahearn, a collections executive for National Grid. "Our position is we have to make sure our accounts are properly billed. ..But the electricity was used, it has to be paid for."

Ahearn said the school district has already paid $29,000 toward the debt and that the company waived $38,000 in late charges, bringing the amount owed to $288,000.

Buchanan said he is negotiating a multi-year payment plan for the remaining balance. He said he would notify the committee as soon as an agreement is reached.