Observer Online | RELAC Problems Persist Throught Heat of Summer

Edition of August 3, 2007

RELAC Problems Persist Throught Heat of Summer

Reston residents living around Lake Anne are once again struggling with the heat of the summer as the only air conditioning utility in the state, aged and technologically out-dated, struggles to keep up with modern demands.

When Reston's first neighborhoods were built, they were tied into a unique and visionary utility that used the water from Lake Anne to cool air for the whole community. Cool air is blown into the houses from a main station, and warmer air is taken out of the houses for cooling.

The RELAC system, which is the state's only air conditioning utility, is a small system that is regulated by the state not unlike electric utilities or water utilities. As the years have gone by, however, the system has not been able to keep up with the modern expectation of residents. Year in and year out, the system can't cool the houses enough and the monthly bills for residents go higher and higher.

In 2005 The Observer wrote several stories about an intense debate within the community about whether to keep the utility or allow homeowners to bypass the system and install their own, individual heat pumps or other equipment. Residents ultimately chose to retain the RELAC system by a margin of 30 votes.

Now the RELAC system is struggling with a much-reduced water level in Lake Anne. RA has taken action to try to prevent the local golf course from using water for landscaping to protect the lake's water level for the air conditioning system.

This is another indication that the RELAC system is simply too complicated, too expensive, and not productive enough to be of continued good service to the 230 homes it serves. Put RELAC out to pasture and let homeowners take control of their own indoor environments.