LIGHT-BULB MOMENTS!

Smart Ideas to Help You Solve Your Home Energy Crisis

By Elisa Wood

s a kid, I never understood why my Mom liked the dark so much. Now that I’m a mom and I have to pay the electric bill, I’m beginning to see its charm. But you don’t have to revert to candles to cut electricity costs. In my job as an energy writer, I’ve learned strategies that don’t leave me bruising my shins in the dark. Conservation doesn’t have to be painful.

Kil-O-What?

            Looking for savings starts with your electric bill. Like banks, utilities sometimes mess up the numbers. You can expect your energy costs to vary by season, with prices rising in the winter and summer, especially if you have electric heat or air conditioning. Unless your utility raises its rates dramatically, you expand your house, or add energy-hungry equipment, your bill for January 2003 should not vary too much from January 2002.

            If it does, call customer service. Be persistent and, if necessary, work your way up the chain of command. A young couple spent months haggling with Boston Edison over what was clearly an error on the utility’s part—a $500,000 bill for their tiny Newton, Massachusetts, apartment.  When they finally brought their problem to a high-level executive, he was so horrified by his company’s behavior, he not only resolved the problem but also sent the couple a sizable check toward their baby daughter’s college tuition.

            That was a few years ago. These days you’re likely to get a quicker response from your utility. Several states have opened up the electricity business to competition. As a result, utilities focus more on keeping customers happy. But if your utility isn’t helpful, you can turn to your state public utilities commission, the entity that regulates utilities. Many have consumer divisions that will help you settle the dispute. Find contact information online or in your phone book.

Little-Known Discounts

            Don’t stop at reading the bill. Read the advertisements and newsletters that come with it. These “bill stuffers” sometimes contain information about little-known discounts available when you make home improvements or buy new appliances. In some states, utilities must dedicate a certain amount of money each year toward customer-efficiency programs.

            You also can check www.energystar.gov to find stores near you that offer rebates on energy-efficient light bulbs, air conditioners, refrigerators, computers, even VCRs and cordless phones.  Launched by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1991, Energy Star puts its label on products that it says perform the same or better than similar models, but use less energy. The site also provides tips on ways to keep heating bills down.

            How much can you save?  Energy Star says if you follow its advice, you can cut about 30 percent from your annual energy bill. That’s about $400 for the average family.  Approved light bulbs can cut about 75 percent off lighting costs. You can chop energy use for refrigeration in half if you replace a 10-year-old model with a new efficient one. That can amount to significant savings, since the refrigerator is the biggest power hog in most homes.

            During warm weather, you can save energy and keep your home more comfortable by avoiding the common mistake of buying an air conditioner that is too large for a room. People think a bigger unit cools better.  But, in fact, if the unit is too big for the room it removes less humidity, making the room clammy. And you’ll use less electricity if you run a small air conditioner for a long time than a large unit for a short time.

Fire Your Utility

            Utilities operated as monopolies for decades. But now 17 states allow competitors into the market. Consumers in those states are no longer stuck with one electricity supplier. Other states are watching these experiments, and, if they work, they may also adopt “customer choice.” Finding the best electricity price can be a tricky, complicated business. So it’s savvy, large industries that have benefited the most, so far, from deregulation. In some states, homeowners are beginning to save money, too, particularly where buying cooperatives, formed by professional organizations and municipal government groups, use their negotiating power to secure deals.

            Customer choice works differently from state-to-state. But generally, utilities in deregulated areas must send customers an “unbundled bill.” That means various costs are broken out separately with charges for generation, distribution and transmission clearly defined. Your wiggle room is with the generation charge, which reflects the actual cost of the electricity generated at power plants. (The distribution and transmission charges reflect the cost of wires and poles and moving electricity through them.) You can accept the utility’s generation rate or seek a competitive supplier who may undercut it.

            How do you find a competitive supplier? Some states keep lists of suppliers who have met their registration requirements. Start by checking with the state public utilities commission. In an effort to spur competition, your state may require that your utility make a list of competitors available to customers upon request. You may even find the list on your utility’s Web site.

            Another approach is to go to www.energyguide.com, which describes itself as an unbiased guide to energy options.  If you type in your zip code, it will list electricity suppliers in your area and their prices. For example, I checked out 77001, a zip code for an area of Houston, Texas. Energyguide gave me 14 choices, with average costs per month ranging from $80 to $105. The higher priced energy tended to be from renewable energy sources. The site told me how much pollution I would remove from the air by using renewable energy. For example, if I chose the $105-per-month option, offered by a company called NativeEnergy, I would remove 12 tons of carbon dioxide from the air, the equivalent of removing two average cars from the road for a year.

            According to Energyguide, I could save about. $168 per year by choosing a competitive supplier. That may not be a whopping amount of my annual budget, but added to the $400 I can save through energy efficiency, I now have more than enough for a ticket to a tropical vacation spot where I can enjoy a lot of sun—the cheapest lighting around.

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         Elisa Wood writes about energy and business issues, and has been a correspondent for McGraw-Hill/Platts Energy for 12 years. Her work has won state, regional and national awards. More information about her is available at www.realwriters.net.

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