|
|
Doug Bechtel
|
|
After a lot of deliberation and discussion the board has adopted a conservation plan that will take over when BPA stops paying for conservation on September -30th. We have heard the message from our members that you want us to offer conservation programs that make sense but don't cost everyone a lot of money and I think these programs will accomplish this. Due to some transition timing problems, some of these programs are in effect today and some won't take effect for several months.
In addition to our desire to provide conservation services to our members we are also obligated to acquire our fair share of the conservation savings for the entire northwest. Part of our new conservation program is driven by our need to document the conservation that our members are acquiring on their own. We will offer energy efficient hot water heater rebates and energy analysis of new homes. We will begin purchasing more energy efficient transformers for our own use and make sure that our various construction projects such as our storm abatement program and other system improvements are as energy efficient as economically reasonable.
As a matter of fact, approximately half of the conservation we plan to acquire will come from internal efficiencies within OPALCO. Some of our other conservation programs, such as our shower head program and our builder assistance programs, are essentially unchanged. If you are building a new home we will provide technical assistance to you or your contractor to make the home as energy efficient as you want. Other programs, such as the residential weatherization, Super Good Cents and Energy Smart Design programs will provide the same assistance from OPALCO but we will not be able to pay the incentives that we have paid in the past. We think building an energy efficient home makes economic sense and we want the opportunity to show you why you should make your new home as energy efficient as possible.
In 1996 we will begin to move in to a load management program in which we will install power controllers in our member's homes that will let us turn off water heaters and other heavy electricity users for short periods during the day to minimize the system peak load and help both BPA and OPALCO defer major investments in new facilities.
In a couple of months, when we get everything under control, we will be establishing an energy hot line that will provide a knowledgeable person to answer your questions on conservation and electric usage. We will let you know when we get this set up.
BPA has agreed to let us use some unspent 1995 conservation funding to ease us through the transition to our own programs.
In the meantime if you have any questions about any of our new conservation programs give us a call. We will be glad to tell you why we think energy efficiency makes good sense.
Doug Bechtel
|