Getting to the bottom of a story isn’t always easy.

Several sources told CommonWealth that electricity usage at the state-owned Ulin Rink in Milton spiked dramatically for several years before an electrical problem was corrected. To find out if that was true, the magazine on August 13 filed a public records request seeking electricity records from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which owns and operates Ulin. Eight days later the agency responded that it was compiling the records and would be in touch shortly.

No records arrived in September, but DCR spokeswoman Wendy Fox said in an email that Ulin’s electric bill was nearly $693,000 in fiscal 2007, more than three times normal levels.

“For a couple of years, electricity costs at Ulin rink were high. In FY 2008, after DCR and NStar worked to solve electrical problems with the refrigeration system, costs came back in line with other rinks,” Fox said in her email.

But last month, nearly four months after the initial request for the electricity records, Fox said her earlier statement had been incorrect. She said the agency’s finance department had miscalculated the 2007 electricity bill. She provided records indicating the 2007 bill was only $234,000, slightly higher than the 2006 bill of $216,000 and the 2008 bill of $206,000.

State Sen. Brian Joyce of Milton says the state has no business running a hockey rink.

“Perhaps the single biggest cost of running a rink is electricity and they can’t get a handle on it,” he says.