Flat Rates: A Timely Notice

Just four days before the election, Harvard released figures that said the University's electric bill would drastically increase if the state flat rate referendum is passed.

But Robin Schmidt, vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday that the timing of the release was not politically motivated.

"There is no campaign on our part to influence the election," Schmidt said, adding that the University compiled the information because there were no figures available about Harvard and because his office had received "a number of inquiries" about the effect of flat rates on the University.

Proponents of the flat rate referendum called the release a "late hit."

"We don't have time to go over the numbers," Mark R. Dyen '72, a researcher for Mass Fair Share, said yesterday.

Joe B. Wyatt, vice president for administration, estimated that Harvard would pay at least $1.3 million more in electric bills under flat rates, a figure he arrived at after asking the physical plant personnel to develop a minimum cost estimate.

Wyatt said there are conservation measures the University can implement but that there are no "sudden things we can do." The best source of conservation is looking at individual faculties and seeing how much they can do."

The two main constraints on electricity-saving measures at Harvard are a reluctance to change behavior and prohibitive costs, Wyatt said.

"I am sure there are economies that can be reached on an individual basis, but the more you do, the more you alter the behavior of people around the University," Wyatt said. He added that such moves can't be made without "a lot of consulting with people in the University."

Major remodeling of buildings to conserve electricity can cost more than the University will save, Wyatt said.

Fair Share's Dyen said that universities are among the most inefficient users of electricity, adding that Harvard should be able to conserve at least 30 per cent of the electricity it currently consumes.

Dyen said Harvard could save a lot of electricity by removing every other light bulb and could save energy from Cambridge by buildings its own power plant.

Wyatt said that the University has already removed many light bulbs, but added he doesn't want to create safety hazards through lack of lighting.

Wyatt also said that Harvard is not considering building a power plant now, because it is not yet a "cost-effective thing to do."