Jul 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Peter Passi Duluth News Tribune, Minn.


If you discovered you were paying twice as much for electricity as your neighbors, you just might be motivated to peek across the fence.

At least that's the hope behind a recent initiative launched by Lake Country Power. The Grand Rapids-based cooperative began sending out energy reports to about 10,000 residential customers in June, letting people know how their energy use compares to that of other similar-sized homes in the area. The report charts an individual resident's use against the average, as well as against the most efficient households of similar size.

"We think it will make a difference to have real-life comparisons," said Tami Zaun, public relations coordinator for Lake Country Power. "Humans are naturally competitive, and it seems that everyone wants to do better than the Joneses."

When Jeff Miels of Grand Rapids caught first glimpse of an energy report for his home, he wasn't pleased.

"It was a real wake-up call," he said. "I thought we were doing OK, because we were turning off lights and keeping the thermostat low. But I found out we weren't doing so well."

After learning that his energy use was well above average, Miels scheduled an energy audit for his home.

Lake Country Power covers the cost of a basic home energy audit, but Miels chose to spring for the extra cost of a blower test that would help assess how weathertight his house was and where improvements were needed most.

Miels built his log home about 10 years ago, and found that because of settling and subtle shifting, air was leaking from his roofline and around many of his windows. The cumulative effect of this leakage was determined to be equivalent to punching about a 12- by 18-inch hole in the wall of his home.

Because Miels heats primarily with electricity, the tightness of his home has a big impact on his electric bills, and he has vowed to caulk and insulate before winter.

"With this economy, you'd better save where you can," Miels said.

Miels' response to his energy report is exactly the kind of reaction Leo Wilenius, Lake Country Power's manager of environmental services, had envisioned.

"We've had a mostly positive response so far," Wilenius said. "If people are above average in their energy use, they've been asking why, and that's exactly what we had hoped for."

While he said it's too early to gauge exactly how successful the program will be, Wilenius is encouraged by early reactions.

"We like what we see so far, in that people are talking about their energy use, and that's a good thing," he said.

Wilenius acknowledged that the comparisons often are imperfect because they don't account for certain differences, such as the number of people living in a given residence.

The energy reports will be sent to Lake Country's members every two months for the next year, enabling people to track their progress.

Zaun said the annual expense of providing energy reports is about $3.70 per residential cooperative member. Across the 10,000 participants in the program, this equates to a total cost of about $37,000. This burden is split three ways, between Lake Country Power; its transmission cooperative, Great River Energy; and the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

The state of Minnesota requires power providers such as Lake Country to invest in conservation initiatives.

Lake Country Power expects the energy reports will prompt its members to make improvements that result in cumulative annual savings of at least $50,000, Zaun said.

(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services