RELAC Cancels Water Chilling For A/C Service To Reston Customers

Correction: This story originally reported an incorrect number of households affected by RELAC's announcement. The story has been updated with a number provided by the Reston Association's Covenants Administration Department.

RESTON, VA — Operators of the Reston Lake Anne Air-Conditioning Corporation cooling system notified its customers on Monday that the 2023 cooling season will be the last year the company would be providing its services.

RELAC is the company that provides chilled water for air conditioning to about 600 Reston households and 25 commercial properties.

"We have just received word of this closure," said Reston Association Spokeswoman Cara O'Donnell, in an email. "Reston Association is committed to the health and safety of our members. We will be diligently working in the coming weeks to understand the full impact of this action to best help out affected members know and understand what alternatives to RELAC exist and the role LARCA and RA have moving forward."

The following is the full text of RELAC's letter to its customers in Reston.

December 11, 2023

We, the owners of RELAC, regrettably and with great difficulty have to announce that the 2023
cooling season will be the last year that RELAC provides chilled water to our customers. We
have reached this decision due to many factors including the following:

• Electrical costs have increased 20% in the ten years we have owned RELAC.
• We have considered applying for a tariff increase which would cost over $50,000.
• We believe it would hasten our customers applying for exemptions as rates would increase by up to 30%
• We did promise not to increase the tariff 11 years ago and thought we could cut costs with new equipment but found it impossible to secure a loan for a new chiller that would cost over $400,000.
• Reston Association continues to grant “health exemptions” to customers without enforcing the rules returning homes to RELAC when they change ownership. We now have 33 homes off the system.
• A significant number of customers on the RELAC system have refused to pay their utility bills. This has caused a serious problem for RELAC’s bottom line. The amount of unpaid utilities has fluctuated between $80K to $120K.

We have sent letters, made phone calls, knocked on doors trying to reason with customers to pay their overdue bills. Some customers are years behind and we have no way of turning off their service as the other utilities do. We have been a community oriented utility for over 50 years and understand the hardship we are generating on our customers. We know that the cost of retrofitting a new A/C system will be expensive. Leaving our good customers is the worse part of this decision and we feel a profound regret. The decision we have made is not an easy way to end our relationship with you, our loyal customers.

Sincerely
Mark Waddell
Mike Coleman
Craig Nyman