Dec 11 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Elwin Green Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Legislation designed to prevent an explosion in electricity prices when rate caps expire at the end of next year has prompted local utilities to offer energy efficiency programs designed to help their customers lower demand.

Signed into law by Gov. Ed Rendell in October 2008, House Bill 2200 -- better known as Act 129 -- requires each electric distribution company to reduce its overall customers' electricity consumption by 1 percent by mid-2011 and by 3 percent by mid-2013. The law also requires a 4.5 percent reduction in peak demand by mid-2013.

That means the companies need to help their customers figure out how to use less, with efforts ranging from offering incentives to use energy-efficient appliances to installing meters that can give consumers real-time information on when electricity prices are up or down.

As part of its effort, Duquesne Light has rolled out "Watt Choices," a program that offers a suite of energy-saving options for both residential and business customers.

On the residential side, the program encourages energy efficiency by offering rebates ranging from $1.25 for energy-efficient light bulbs to $300 for a solar water heater. A refrigerator recycling program will pay $35 for an older, working refrigerator when it is replaced with an Energy Star-rated model. The old unit will be disassembled and its parts recycled.

Customers also can receive suggestions for reducing electricity use by doing an online energy audit on the company's Web site, www.duquesnelight.com/wattchoices/default.cfm.

Duquesne Light is targeting the next generation of consumers with its School Energy Pledge, a program to teach children about energy efficiency. Participating schools will be provided with kits for students that include compact fluorescent light bulbs and weather stripping, among other items, as well as a form for their parents to sign pledging to save energy.

The company will give a school $25 for each form turned in, so schools can use the program as a fundraiser. "We gain access to the school, and we also get access to the family to save energy," said Dave Defide, manager of energy efficiency and demand response.

Allegheny Power, based in Greensburg, also is offering rebates as part of "Watt Watchers," its energy efficiency and conservation program set to roll out during the first quarter of 2010.

The two companies have different timelines set for the use of smart meters, a hot topic in the electricity sector. The meters are being touted for their ability to give consumers real-time information about how much energy they are using, and at what cost

Allegheny Power, which serves customers in Pittsburgh's southern suburbs and five other southwestern Pennsylvania counties, plans to begin installing smart meters next year and to implement programs in 2011 that take advantage of the meters' capabilities.

For instance, the Greensburg-based utility expects to establish variable pricing, by which consumers will pay different rates at different times of day -- a higher price when demand is up and a lower price when demand drops.

If a consumer is preparing to do laundry on a hot summer afternoon and sees from the meter display that the cost of electricity is high, "You may decide that you might be better served to do your laundry later in the day," said spokesman Doug Colafella.

At Duquesne Light, smart meters will not come into play for another couple of years, said spokesman Joseph H. Vallarian. He said the company would begin installing 8,000 meters sometime in 2013 to customers who request them and to all new construction.

"Instead of just going out and saying to everybody, 'Here you go, here's a smart meter,' we want to make sure that consumers want it and that it's the right kind of technology," Mr. Vallarian said.

Helping individual consumers reduce electric bills was only part of the impetus behind Act 129, said state Public Utility Commission spokeswoman Jennifer R. Kocher. The larger goal, she said, was to reduce overall demand in the wholesale electricity market, as the state approaches the removal of electricity rate caps at the end of next year.

"It goes back to Economics 101, supply vs. demand," she said. "If you can reduce the demand and either increase or maintain the supply, the overall wholesale market prices would be impacted by that."

In other words, the goal is to have rates go down over time, rather than soaring as they have in other states when rate caps expired.

Much of the reduction in electricity use will come, not from residential customers, but from commercial and industrial accounts. Because of their size, even an apparently simple change in how a commercial or industrial user does things can produce big results.

For instance, Duquesne Light has partnered with UPMC to install a computer program on the Downtown-based health system's network that will allow its staff to centrally administer power settings for the system's 30,000 computers. When fully operational, UPMC expects the software to reduce the power load for its personal computers by 50 percent, saving $1 million annually.

Elwin Green may be contacted at egreen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1969.

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