Hillsdale county Prison energy system out of gas

An $800,000 energy savings project at the Hillsdale County Jail has not worked out as planned as the jail continues to have heating and energy saving issues.

County Commissioner Brad Benzing said the Board of Commissioners contracted with Honeywell about three years ago to upgrade the county jail building with an energy improvement project in order to save on energy costs. He said the energy savings project includes roof, insulation, water, lighting and temperature improvements to the county jail.

"We've had issues with the system since it was installed," Benzing said.

Benzing said the improvements come with remote monitoring, where the maintenance department can monitor and adjust the temperature of the building over a wireless connection. But every time the system hasn't worked, the maintenance department has had to go and fix the temperature manually Benzing said.

County Commissioner Parke Hayes said the improvements ought to have helped keeps costs down on the building but has yet to perform properly.

Maintenance Supervisor Randy Finley said natural gas consumption for the building has gone up over the years — costing the county more money. Finley said they've worked with Honeywell to reset temperature setting for the system and are working with them to fix any problems that pop up.

"It's not any one particular thing," Finley said. "I wish it were so easy that you could point and say ‘ahh, that's it.'"

Finley said the Board of Commissioners purchased the program with the guarantee of saving a certain amount of money. Three years later, the maintenance department and Honeywell are still balancing and working out the system.

Benzing said the county probably won't see any refund because of another heating system the county put into place before beginning the energy savings program with Honeywell. According to Benzing, Honeywell incorporated the cost of maintaining the older system into their yearly energy savings audit — keeping maintenance costs low.

Despite the problems with the system, Finley said the county will continue to work with Honeywell to resolve any problems.

"It has not been a complete failure — it's been disappointing, just to say the least," Hayes said, "The bottom line is … we're just not seeing the savings we thought there should be."

Finley said the next scheduled energy consumption audit will be in the spring. Until then, he said, the maintenance department will be in "wait and see mode."