AEP will install 110,000 new meters with help of federal money

By Dan Gearino,THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

More than 100,000 central Ohio households are on the leading edge of energy technology, having received high-tech electricity meters with the help of federal aid, a project an Obama administration official praised yesterday.

“Ohio could be the testing ground to show what this is all about,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, speaking at Battelle in Columbus.

The government is contributing $75 million to help American Electric Power pay for the $150 million initiative, providing “smart meters” to customers.

So far, 107,000 of the 110,000 planned have been installed in homes and businesses on the east side of the Columbus metro area. The rest, mainly destined for large businesses, will be installed before the end of October.

The meters communicate electronically with AEP’s offices, allowing remote meter reading and giving AEP an instant report when there is a power outage.

As soon as October, the customers will be able to use an AEP website to track their electricity usage the previous day. Future versions of the meters might allow for real-time tracking.

Electric utilities eventually might use the technology to offer different prices for power, depending on the time of day, which would encourage customers to use less power during times of high demand. This kind of change to pricing would require approval by state regulators.

As Chu sees it, the meters’ main asset is the way they provide information that can be used to cut power bills.

“First and foremost, it’s about saving money,” he said.

The government is paying for metering projects throughout the country, including 180,000 meters in Ohio and 2 million meters nationwide, according to the Department of Energy.

AEP’s project covers a 150-square-mile area, including parts of Columbus, along with Alexandria, Bexley, Blacklick, Gahanna, Johnstown, Minerva Park, New Albany, Pataskala, Reynoldsburg, Westerville and Whitehall. The service might eventually be rolled out in other parts of the company’s 11-state territory.

The use of smart meters has led to concern from privacy advocates who worry that the utility will know too much about customers’ behavior.

Joe Hamrock, AEP Ohio’s president and chief operating officer, said data security is an essential part of the project.

“In all cases, consumers’ data is secure,” he said.

Stark State College to spend more than $20 million acquired through two-year college enhancement program

Akron Beacon Journal, Tuesday, Aug 24, 2010

Stark State College is expanding its campus via a new state program that lowers construction costs. The college in Jackson Township is spending more than $20 million in two new academic buildings, new parking lots and renovations through an ”enhancement” program approved for two-year colleges by the General Assembly last year.

The new investment is the ”largest injection of capital into the campus at one time,” said Tom Chiappini, Stark State’s chief operating officer and treasurer.

”It’s a really good opportunity for the college and the perfect time, what with financial costs being low and construction costs being competitive,” he said.

This is the first time the rapidly growing two-year college has borrowed money. In the past, it financed construction through a $12 a credit hour facilities fee embedded in the credit-hour cost and also by state capital appropriations.  

This time, the college ”couldn’t generate enough money fast enough through the credit-hour fee,” which produces $3.3 million a year, Chiappini said.

Last week, Stark State became the first college in Ohio to take part in the state’s new intercept program, which Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a credit rating of Aa2, which is near the best.

 The Ohio Building Authority sold bonds on the college’s behalf last week. The college will pay back the debt with $1.6 million of the $3.3 million facilities fee it collects yearly from students.

If Stark State cannot meet its debt service payments, the program authorizes the chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents to divert state payments from the institution to the bond trustee.

Because Stark State got a higher bond rating than it would have received on its own, its borrowing costs were lower. The Ohio Building Authority estimates it will save up to $1.4 million.

The college already has broken ground for both buildings — a 40,000-square-foot Business and Entrepreneurial Center, which will open in January 2012, and the 46,450-square-foot North Academic Building, which will open next fall.  The latter project will include a bridge that will cross a public street to a parking lot.  In addition, the atrium in Stark State’s main building and classrooms in existing buildings will be renovated.

Stark State has recorded double-digit enrollment annually for several years. Current enrollment, buoyed once more by double-digit growth on the opening day of classes on Monday, is more than 13,000.

Other two-year colleges are expected to apply for the state program now that Stark State ‘’successfully tested the waters,” OBA chairman Thomas L. Fries Sr. said in a media release.  ”There is a huge void we think we can fill. Many of our community colleges have significant capital needs,” he said.

Stark State is the sixth-largest of the 23 two-year public colleges in Ohio and one of the fastest growing nationwide.

MEP Makes Inc. 500 List for Second Year Running  

Chantilly, VA (PRWEB) August 24, 2010

Mission Essential Personnel, LLC (MEP) is pleased to announce it has been included again on Inc. magazine’s prestigious Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest growing companies based on percentage revenue growth.  MEP ranks #162 overall this year, after having hit #52 last year. The company’s revenue has grown from $43 million in 2007 to more than $375 million in 2009.

“It’s great for MEP to be recognized for its continued strong growth,” said MEP CEO Chris Taylor. “Inc.’s recognition highlights our company’s tremendous success expanding its current business while beginning to branch into new areas of work. Our great personnel in the U.S. and across the world deserve credit for their unwavering commitment to our customers and their mission.”

MEP is a global professional services company that provides human-capital solutions and program support to government and corporate clients. Currently, MEP is the US government’s leading provider of translators, interpreters and cultural advisors, with more than 6,000 personnel in 13 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. In addition to language services, MEP provides intelligence support, training and technical services to the US Department of Defense, intelligence agencies and international development organizations. Regardless of a mission’s size or complexity, MEP finds professionals with the skills to support it.

With new lease on life, Third Frontier to boost private equity attractionBusiness First of Columbus

by Kevin Kemper , Business First Columbus

August 20, 2010 

If it weren’t for Ohio’s Third Frontier program, Orlando Simonetti says Columbus-based EXCMR Ltd. likely wouldn’t be in business.

“Without the Third Frontier we probably wouldn’t have got off the ground,” said Simonetti, EXCMR’s CEO. “We certainly wouldn’t have gotten where we are now … with a prototype and in the process of building four machines.”

Founded in May 2008, EXCMR is a small company that is attempting to commercialize a medical technology developed at Ohio State University Medical Center.

Its name stands for “exercise stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging,” reflecting its treadmill exercise stress testing in conjunction with cardiac imaging.