Avalon Geothermal has permanently discontinued service to some customers in Reno and now the company plans to hold an informal public meeting on the change.
The City says it was notified by Avalon that it would shut off power to about 100 homes near Manzanita Lane, earlier this month. But, Cyrq Energy, the owner of Avalon tells 2 News that the actual number of affected customers is closer to 75.
Because of the shut off, the City says Avalon will not serve the newly opened Moana Springs Community Aquatics and Fitness Center, but it says the facility will continue using the natural gas infrastructure in place.
Avalon will hold an informal meeting for its customers at the Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel next Thursday, October 17 from 5pm – 6pm.
In a letter to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, Avalon says, “as you know, the Avalon Geothermal heating system (the “System”) is offline and has been drained. We are sorry to report that after our 7-year history and hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment and repairs, Avalon Geothermal will not be able to economically restart the System.”
It adds that repairing the system “will require more than $15,000 per service connection, and we know that we cannot ask our customers to cover this cost.”
Since we've posted this story, Cyrq tells us Avalon is actually shutting off district heating, not power.
Avalon says it will issue any renewal service contracts for next year.
Cyrq Energy sent 2 News Nevada this statement:
"We are disappointed with the situation....We have spent seven years working to keep the Avalon geothermal heating system operating reliably. As our customers know, the system has had a challenging history and the > 30-year-old system is simply aging to a point where it can no longer be maintained economically. Each Service Agreement requires customers to have back-up services for home heating, so we are hopeful that the transition goes smoothly for everyone affected."
