HONESDALE, PA — Imagine the feeling of knowing the great secret that the first oil company salesman setting foot in a Honesdale blacksmith’s shop might have known. Given his look of certainty and excitement last week, Jack Barnett could have been that man, as he brought electric vehicle power before the county commissioners on June 13.

Barnett is a retired engineer who volunteers with the group, Sustainable Energy Education and Development Support (SEEDS), which according to its website is “a community-based organization in Northeastern Pennsylvania committed to developing a local renewable energy infrastructure and promoting more sustainable living in our area.”

The plan he brought the commissioners was the same as a project he recently completed for the Borough of Honesdale: to apply for a $10,000, PA Department of Environmental Protection rebate program. That grant previously funded a dual-port 7kW station in the Park & Shop parking lot on Main Street, next to the Fred Miller Pavilion. Honesdale was the first municipality state-wide to apply, and received notification of the award less than 48 hours later.

The county plan would provide the same installation at the Stourbridge Center on Park Street. The total cost, based on the borough project, is $10,507 including engineering drawings. Another possible cost could be protective bollards, if necessary, Barnett said. Beyond that the electric service would cost $250 per year. Barnett said the borough has a $1.50 per hour charging fee, any provider sets their own rate. “Sites vary. Some are free,” Barnett said.

According to Barnett, with his family’s electric car, the $1.50 rate provides about 25 miles of nearly emission-free driving range. “We normally use our home charger, which gets its energy from our home solar arrays (so fully emissions-free),” he wrote, “but we’re both glad to help promote this exciting advancement in this wonderful, and now a little more sustainable, community!”

Commissioners’ Chair Brian Smith said the concept “fits in with what we’re trying to accomplish. The panel directed commissioners’ chief clerk Vicky Botjer to prepare the paperwork for the rebate program.

SEEDS will be co-sponsoring an EV car show at the Northeast PA Audubon Art and Craft Festival at the Wallenpaupack Area High School in Hawley on Sunday, July 21.