Pulling the plug?

This photograph shows the City of Washington’s $2.68 million bill for the power it purchased in January. Some N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency members are considering leaving the agency because of what they say is frustration and concerns over high electric bills they and their customers are paying. (WDN Photo/Mike Voss) �

Some NCEMPA members exploring leaving group

By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor

Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010 2:18 AM EST

Washington and other eastern North Carolina cities and towns that sell power might be able to withdraw from a power agency that has those cities and town’s power customers paying high electric bills, a power agency lawyer said last month.
Washington Mayor Archie Jennings said Washington is keeping abreast of the movement calling for power-agency members to disconnect from the power agency.
“We’ve been watching it very, very closely,” Jennings said in an interview last week.
Jennings said the relationship between the power agency and its members has reached a “critical juncture.”

“Washington is not the only community that cannot afford to be a member,” he said.
A city or town wanting to leave the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency faces many challenges, not to mention someone taking over that city or town’s share of $2.6 billion in debt that NCEMPA’s 32 members are obligated to pay, said Michael Colo, the lawyer representing NCEMPA. Colo’s remarks came during the power agency’s Board of Commissioners’ meeting in Wilson, according to the Rocky Mount Telegram.