Reston RELAC Sale Still Under Review

The group seeking to purchase the Lake Anne-area's RELAC cooling system will have to wait a while longer to know whether the transaction will go through.

Reston RELAC, comprised of local businessmen Michael Coleman, Craig Nyman and Mark Waddell, filed a proposal with the Commonwealth of Virginia State Corporation Commission in October.

They are seeking to purchase the operation back from Aqua Virginia, which has run the system for nearly 10 years. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

Waddell said in an email on Thursday they had hoped the deal deadline could be sped up because cooling season in late May is fast approaching.

However, Fairfax County requested the public comment period be extended to March 29. The 180-day State Corporation Commission deadline is May 1.

"We encourage users to submit comments," Waddell said. "It is important and about the only way the the commission can get a feel on how the users feel."

Waddell said the petitioners have gone through three sets of interrogative questions from the SCC.  The SCC staff will file a Staff Report with their findings and suggests on March 15. The group has until March 29 to respond to the report.

RELAC - or Reston Lake Anne Air Conditioning Corporation - has been the cooling system for about 300 Lake Anne-area homes since the mid-1960s. The system is powered by recirculated lake water from Lake Anne. Touted as state-of-the-art when it was built, nearly 50 years later it is oft-criticized by users for being inefficient.

Reston RELAC says in the filing it is seeking to take back RELAC because "the services provided to Reston Lake Anne customers are not part of Aqua Virginia's core business of supplying drinking water and wastewater services."

"Certain functions and knowledge required to facilitate Reston Lake Anne's operations and customer service needs are unique and do not easily fit within Aqua Virginia's support functions," the group says. "The specialized knowledge required to service the Reston Lake Anne's customers is better served by a company located wholly within the Reston Lake Anne footprint in Reston Virginia."

Reston RELAC says its goals are to:

*  Maintain the viability and existence of Reston Lake Anne to continue to operate as an air-conditioning company and benefit the folks of Reston for years to come.

*  Continue the operations of a truly unique system that supports the foundation of the Reston community and intended to provide a centralized air conditioning service to the citizens located around Lake Anne with very little noise pollution.

* Develop one of Reston's original environmentally friendly systems and move it forward with modem technology.

The group says it will install cooling towers by Spring 2014 to boost the system during the hottest part of the year. Aqua Virginia has talked about installing cooling towers since 2005, but the plans never came to fruition.

Reston RELAC said in its filing it hoped to keep annual customer costs the same at about $1,000.

Waddell said Reston RELAC has met with Waterview Cluster,  Wainwright Cluster, and Hickory Cluster at their annual or board meetings to discuss RELAC. Reston Association also organized a cluster president meeting on Feb 16, but not all clusters were present, he said.

Reston RELAC is available to meet with any cluster upon request, Waddell said. Contact him at  mark@restonrelac.com.

"Reston RELAC LLC is excited to be getting closer to a decision about the transfer and the return to a local operator," said Waddell. "Part of the SCC decisions method is to determine what is best for the customers, will they continue to receive service at required tariff temperatures and to determine the risks of approving this transfer."

Interested in submitting a comment? Follow these instructions.

Visit  http://scc.virginia.gov. In the "Quick Link" area find  Submit public comments on a case and select.

In next screen is a list of all cases that you could submit public comments and a "Submit Comment" button.  The RELAC case is:
PUE-2012-00131 - Joint Petition of Aqua Virginia, Inc., and Reston RELAC LLC for approval of a change in control and transfer of assets

Fill out the required information, comment, and submit.

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