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Century Gas Department Can’t Account For 58% Of Their System’s Natural Gas
August 27, 2018
The Town of Century can’t account of 58 percent of the natural gas it purchases for resale and is facing a $188,000 projected loss next fiscal year, council members learned Friday.
The town has allocated an immediate $100,000 to purchase new gas meters for residential and commercial customers and about $4,000 for a new “gate station” meter to measure the quantity of gas purchased to verify the amount billed by their supplier.
“We are billing right now half of what we have purchased,” accountant Robert Hudson said. “If we are making a bold move and do the meters, our gas revenue has go to go up.”
The council decided to keep the gas department’s projected income for the next fiscal year at $400,000 to make it easier to look at financials and see increased income from the new meters.
“We will get the meters in and just watch it trickle to the bottom line,” Hudson said
The gas is not leaking; officials have said it’s either a problem with customer meters, meter reading or a discrepancy between the amount billed by the town’s supplier and the quantity actually delivered. Century will purchase the new meters with $100,000 from a Special Revenue Economic Development Account that has a $122,000 balance.
The Century Gas Department serves about 500 customers.
Comments
30 Responses to “Century Gas Department Can’t Account For 58% Of Their System’s Natural Gas”
Yet another reason this incorporated municipality needs to unincorporate. Referendum. Vote to unincorporate. Gas service transfers to Pensacola Energy with greater capabilities to manage, maintain, and bill the system properly. Water rolls over to ECUA or Central Water. Done.
Who supplies Century’s gas?
Well said Lewis T and while they are cleaning up the mess at city Hall someone needs to address the junkyards that seem to grow in the residents yards along the highway. Century is an embarrassment when others arrive in Florida for the first time. Hec I have to go through there several times a week and hate looking at how people don’t care
Pack the odoriser at the gate station with captan and increase the injection rate and wait for calls from around the area. Investigate all complaints and also survey along the gas distribution lines.
The level of INCOMPETENCY represented by the Century town governing body rivals the Federal Government. The town produces nothing. It’s the peoples assets being wasted. A new meter will be purchased for $1000k but no comment on the cost of installation or training. If the gas department can’t account for 58% of the methane gas purchased how will the new meter solve the problem unless someone knows something! By the way how long has this 58% imbalance been going on? . The counsel must STOP everything and conduct an investigation of this mess. There are local gas measurement experts that would likely help for little or no cost. People that understand the difference between an orifice meter and a turbine meter and how they both work . NOT THE ACCOUNT AND NOT THE MAYOR OR COUNSEL MEMBERS
yes the place gets an audit every year and yes the state agencies have been informed.
Yes the County knows
And yes how the Gateway looks through here has been addressed many times.
The Welcome to Florida area the tourists stop and take pictures is over grown and the County is responsible for the code enforcement through Century..
Why on earth would you allow an accountant to tell you what to do with your operations. Don’t you have supervisors over that department that get paid to make those decisions? I can remember just a few years ago Century spent all kinds of money on a fly by night water meter system, why because some salesman made it sound like a good idea. Then after not even a year they failed and guess what? The then administration let the same company talk them in to an upgrade and they fell for it again. Fast forward a few years and Century is back to reading meters the old way because the system failed again.
Throwing money into purchasing new gas meters may be what needs to happen, but first how about getting someone to verify the billing is correct, because from my experience with the billings I receive from there they are all over the place. Second, verify that all of your commercial meters are calibrated correctly, and third install the gate station meter that I have no idea why you wouldn’t have one there already. Trusting someone to bill you correctly nowadays is insane.
Is the town relying too much on the accountant?
Is there a reason the meters can’t be tested before you replace them??
Sounds like Century has no control over its gas.
Really, now comparing Century with Cantonment….Unfortunately ESCAMBIA COUNTY does run Cantonment. ALL the money from OUR Cantonment area workers, IP, Navy Federal, Solutia and many smaller business monies ALL goes to Hayward and his goonies downtown perfection. Sounds like a great time for him to go. Change them all, same as Century’s council. There is NO reason someone with smarts can not get Century in shape or off the map. As for Cantonment, Most folks from here were born and raised in Cantonment even the downtowners that are actually from Pensacola. We all need to work together and make it nice for tourists to drive from interstate thru Flomaton, Century , Cantonment and Ensley before seeing perfection. As I go interstate to downtown or beach I look and say WOW that’s scary, would hate to break down. So goes way past Ensley as well. Let’s all pull together , work together and FIX up all of Pensacola!!! THIS includes the areas surrounding Pensacola, tourists all see it as Pensacola!
Seriously…is Century a real town…?
My question is if they are losing half, are there people out there receiving gas for free? Are there gas meters that are still running after a customer’s service should have been discontinued? My suggestion is that the mayor ( and I use that term loosely) put the gas department guys ( which are doing very little most of the time) to work, going from house to house, in the area, the town services gas to and check every gas meter, there is, to verify which customers are honestly paying and who is getting free gas. Just curious how many are getting gas for free!
Please continue to mismanage the town of Century!!! I enjoy reading about this on a daily basis!!! It’s like the “Three Stooges” and I cannot stop laughing…
How long before the state/feds intervene and perform an audit on this circus?
so when the new meters are installed and the customers bill goes up, WHO IS GOING TO PAY???????????????????????????????
i use gas in P’cola to heat water and my house. My yearly bill is around $400. If Century budget is $400,000 and they are losing half, that is $800,000 annually for 500 custormers. That equates to $1600 per customer. I think their supplier is not billing them correctly.
I have watched this unfold for years, I now have enough of an informed opinion to recommend dissolving what we can in regards to Century. Pensacola I.E. Escambia County would be in a much better position to take over the daily business of running the North end of the county.
I think it’s time for Escambia County to take over running this clown town. I’m sure the town council has good intentions; but this is what you get when inexperienced folks try and run a government agency.
I think that individuals should stop pointing out that Mrs. Brooks is an accountant, If I recall correctly, she actually had to submit a public records request for financial information regarding the checks that were paid from a negative account. So obviously the Mayor isn’t presenting the council with financial records. This Mayor is a complete joke and he really just needs to resign. I do not believe he is qualified to fix the financial situation, the Town of Century is in.
I don’t live in Century but good grief – why don’t they save the money for new meters, hire a new, properly trained meter reader & check the gas meter readings for two or three months & compare them against what it being purchased. It would cost a LOT less money & at least rule that issue out. Why spend more money when you are already in the hole? If it turns out that the meters are bad, then replace them. Don’t just throw money at the problem until you can identify the problem.
Has anyone called, notified, requested, informed, texted, emailed the appropriate state agency demanding a financial audit of the City of Century and its practices over the last 10 years? I think an overwhelming majority of people in Century and Escambia County feel that an audit is necessary. Has the newspaper, the guardian of the people, pushed the audit route? How about the County Commissioners?
In my many years living here, I have learn a truth. That truth is, “First impressions are lasting impressions.” Now apply that to the next part!
Century is the first Florida city 10’s of thousands see after coming down I-65 and Hwy 113.Not counting the financial mess, how uninviting Century and Cantonment, look to business and especially tourist along the roadway. No beautiful signs or structures saying Welcome to………. We do have constant trash down Highway 29. And we could start grazing animals along the highway most the year because the grass does not get cut often enough for people to say what a nice, well kept place it is. Where is the HUGE sign down Highway welcoming people tp the Pensacola Municipal Area, maybe highlighting beaches, museums, Blue Wahoos, etc. Do you get the picture? Good, the people coming here don’t.
Extremely poor accounting practices.
A year goes by before a substantial loss is noticed? Quarterly audits are not done? Does the town of Century balance the checkbook once a year?
The amount of loss would appear to be a faulty meter at the “gate station”, or several customer meters out of calibration, IF in fact the meters have been read correctly. The meters can be checked for a reading error simply by reviewing historical readings used for past billing and see if a significant change in the amount of gas billed to that customer has decreased or increased.
Portable ultrasonic or acoustic type flow meters are available that simply involve clamping a couple of sensors on the gas line. Most will work on gas lines from 3/4 to 24 inch pipe size. In a matter of days it would detect if the meter in service was in calibration. It could be moved to different locations as needed for verification and save many dollars over the shotgun approach of changing all the meters that the majority of are in fact within calibration.
Century is totally out of control spirialng toward the ground when will it hit?
I totally agree with “M in Bratt”. Century has become the Detroit of the South, with one embarrassing financial fiasco after another. Looks like they would hire somebody who knows how to do a job, then back off and let them do it! No wonder Century has so many crimes and high unemployment rates!
What about the GAS leak under hwy. 29 for about 2 years??? that’s why they are putting in new pipeline?? just a thought.
NorthEscambia prints the news, the town of Century creates it..
And today, we get another lesson in Century Mathematics. We have an accountant on the Town Council, an accountant hired by the Council, and an office full of people that are all supposedly keeping up with gas consumption and billing. How come none of them have noticed that they lost 58% of their gas until now? This did not happen overnight. No business can operate if they buy twice as much as they sell, except maybe Kmart and Sears. But look what happened to them.
Loads of Century’s “Gas” is right there around the City Council’s table.
If only there was a way to tap into that there’d never be a deficit.
The bad news just keeps rolling in. 58% unaccounted for? So what does the town do? Spend more money they don’t have. Really?
http://www.northescambia.com/2017/06/centurys-cash-cow-is-no-more-as-gas-department-revenue-declines
Last one said it was blamed on loss of customers, So accountant, it is just now dawning on you to see what was bought and what was billed for.
This is ridiculous.