Friday, August 10, 2007

CT Rewards Residents Who Cut Electricity

Innovation Awards
CT gets the award for coming up with a plan after Green Factoids’ heart:

Summer Saver - Rewards Program
Save Energy This Summer and Earn a Credit on Your Electric Bill. That's OneThing!

OneThing your utility company is doing to help you conserve energy is giving you a reward for saving! If you use less electricity this summer than you did last summer, you can earn a credit on your electric bill.
Summer Saver Rewards Program

You are eligible if:

* You are a residential or commercial customer of CL&P or UI.
* You will be an active customer for the entire period of July 1, 2007 through September, 2007.
* You were an active customer for the entire period of July 1, 2006 through September, 2006.
* You have had continuous service at the same location for both time periods.

How it works:
Your electric utility company will compare how much electricity you used this summer (from July 1 through September 30, 2007) to how much you used last summer (July 1 through September 30, 2006). If you're able to reduce your usage by at least 10%, you earn a credit on your electric bill!

What you can earn:

* Use at least 10% less electricity this summer and earn a credit equal to 10% percent of the billed generation charges for the eligibility period.
* Use at least 15% less electricity this summer and earn a credit equal to 15% percent of the billed generation charges for the eligibility period.
* Use at least 20% less electricity this summer and earn a credit equal to 20% percent of the billed generation charges for the eligibility period.

Comment: This plan gets it right for several reasons. First, it rewards people who cut electricity during the critical summer months, using a fair, sensible scheme. It is only available to people who have lived in the same house for the past two years and are thus in the position to track their use and make real cuts. However, what Green Factoids especially appreciates is that the plan should motivate people to UNDERSTAND THEIR ELECTRICITY, which regular readers know has been the subject of most of this summer's posts. You won't have much success cutting unless you know how much power your appliances actually use. Hopefully, participants will quickly realize that junking their 300 watt halogen fixtures and turning off their 3500 watt central A/C will get them to their goal a lot faster than unplugging their 2 watt "vampire" VCR on standby. CT should throw in a 'Kill-a-watt' meter for good measure.

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