Municipal versus IOU territory when siting a second facility

Client is siting a second cultivation facility and has two buildings under consideration, one in
municipal utility territory and one served by the IOU. They asked me to compare.

This is not audit work but it is the highest leverage thing I have done for a client all year,
because the decision is made once and cannot be revisited.

Rough comparison at their projected 1.4 MW load:

Municipal has a lower energy rate and a much lower demand rate. On paper it wins by a wide margin,
something like 210,000 a year.

But: the municipal has no published large commercial tariff. Rates are set by council resolution and
have moved twice in five years, once by 11 percent. There is no commission to appeal to. There is no
formal dispute process. If they misbill, my recourse is a conversation with a city clerk.

The IOU is more expensive and has a tariff I can read, a dispute process, and a commission.

I told the client the municipal is cheaper and riskier, and that the risk is not quantifiable. They
are choosing the municipal. I think that is defensible but I wanted it on the record.