Mark Wiser, senior conservation adviser (right), helps customer Tony Thompson with insulation issues in his home.

Over the last two years, Chelan County PUD’s Conservation staff helped customers save enough electricity to power about 1,700 homes. Although final numbers aren’t in yet, the PUD expects to exceed its two-year target for energy savings.

In 2010-11, the PUD:

• Distributed 81,600 compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) free to customers
• Subsidized the cost of 13,600 specialty CFLs, 69,800 regular CFLs (the “twists”) and 170 low-flow showerheads at local stores, providing discounts to customers right at checkout
• Helped weatherize 95 low-income homes in Chelan County through a grant to the Community Action Council
• Provided rebates to customers for adding insulation and replacing windows in 392 homes
• Helped the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce light up the night with new energy-efficient holiday LED lights
• Helped with the cost of installing variable fan drives and CO2 scrubbers to improve energy efficiency at local fruit warehouses
• Helped local businesses install improved lighting
• Reduced energy costs in its own Headquarters Building through low-cost changes in settings and control points

The PUD spent $2.44 million to achieve the savings.

The expected savings of 3.154 average megawatts (aMW) will exceed the target of 3.1 aMW, which was set under the requirements of the state Energy Independence Act, also known as Initiative 937. The savings of 1.72 aMW for 2010 alone represent the largest amount of conservation achieved for any year in PUD history.

One average megawatt serves about 500 Northwest homes.

The Energy Independence Act requires utilities with 25,000 or more customers to acquire all cost-effective conservation. The PUD must reset conservation targets every two years, as well as update a 10-year plan for achieving energy savings.

For 2012-2013, the target is 4.18 aMW. In addition to existing programs that include help to weatherize homes for low-income families and Resource$mart for commercial and industrial customers, future conservation efforts are expected to include rebates on ductless heat pumps, direct installation of energy-saving products for participating homeowners, and a focus on irrigation pump efficiency.

Are you Powerpaying yet?

Chelan County PUD customers taking advantage of the PUD’s new paperless billing option are saving paper, saving checks and saving stamps, said Kerri Wendell, Customer Information System administrator. The PUD began accepting online bill payments through its Powerpay system in July and now processes over 11,000 electronic payments per month, Wendell said. About 3,700 customers are enrolled Powerpay users, helping the PUD exceed its goal to enroll 10 percent of its customers, or 3,650, within the first year. 

Customers who opt for paperless billing help the PUD save about 54 cents per bill in printing and mailing costs.   

Powerpay helps customers reduce their paper mail, but users also like it for its features, Wendell said. Customers using Powerpay can get e-mail notification when a bill is ready, see current and prior bills, make online payments, view payment history and sign up for automatic payment plans through their bank accounts or credit cards. (Customers already using an automatic payment plan who want to enroll in Powerpay should contact a Customer Accounts representative, (509) 661-8002.) 

A video guides first-time users through the sign-up process. Customer Accounts staff are available during PUD business hours to help by phone if needed. 

If online payments don’t appeal to customers there’s another popular option: pay by phone. Wendell said almost 1,000 customers are paying their monthly bills via the PUD’s automated system. The number to call for phone payments is (509) 661-8729.

Customers can read about all payment options on the PUD website.

Look for the Simple Steps, Smart Savings sign when shopping for compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) and low-flow showerheads at several local retailers. The sign indicates products that are discounted as part of a Chelan County PUD program to bring savings to consumers.

Customers will find prices already marked down on compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), indoor hard-wired fixtures and low-flow showerheads. Markdowns range from about 50 cents below suggested retail for general purpose CFLs to up to $7 on energy-saving showerheads.

Items available through the Simple Steps, Smart Savings program include:

• Twist CFLs – Regular Twists, Daylight Twists and A-Lamps
• Specialty CFLs – Reflectors, Globes, Candelabras, Torpedo Bulbs and Outdoor Lighting
• Fixtures – Indoor Hard-Wired Fixtures
• Showerheads – Those using 2.0 gallons per minute or less (showerhead discounts available at Costco and Fred Meyer only)

To find the store nearest you, visit the PUD website. Remember to recycle your used CFLS at any PUD office.

A ductless heat pump, visible above the wood cabinet, provides quiet, efficient heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.

If you’ve got an aging baseboard or wall heating system in your home, you may be eligible for help replacing that system this year.

Chelan County PUD is planning a pilot program in 2012 to help install ductless heat pump systems. The PUD will offer rebates of approximately $750 per eligible household to help offset the cost of the units, which ranges from $2,000 to $6,000. Homeowners with electric baseboard or wall heaters would be given top consideration, but homes with other electric heat types may be eligible. Local contractors will be invited to participate in a training course to learn about installing and maintaining ductless heat pumps.

A ductless heat pump is a highly efficient and easily installed primary heating and cooling system for electrically heated homes. Ductless systems are ideal for replacing or supplementing less efficient electric baseboard or wall heaters (and window air conditioners in the summer).

Ductless systems operate using 25 percent to 50 percent less energy than electric resistance zonal and forced air systems. Regionally, use of a ductless heating and cooling system in a single-family home with zonal electric heat is estimated to save 3,500 kWh annually. Using Chelan PUD’s average cost of $0.03 per kilowattt hour, upgrading to a ductless heating and cooling system as a primary heat source can save approximately $105 per year. In addition, ductless heat pumps are safer, quieter, and heat rooms more efficiently than zonal heat. And they provide air conditioning in the summer.

If you are a Chelan County homeowner interested in upgrading from baseboard or wall heating systems to a ductless heat pump, send an e-mail to conservation@chelanpud.org or call (509) 661-8008.

More information about how ductless heat pumps work, their costs and energy savings is available at goingductless.com.

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Students use 3D glasses to view the color spectrum.

PUD experts help students make sense of science

Attention Cashmere Middle School parents: If your seventh grader asks you for permission to ski behind a solar-powered car over the frozen highways of Canada, blame Jim White.

White, a Chelan County PUD engineer, and Eric Sydenstricker, PUD technician, are helping students in Bob Martin’s seventh grade science class build their own solar-powered model cars. To introduce the concept, White showed the class a YouTube video of him ice-skiing behind a car that operates totally on solar energy. Not to be outdone, Sydenstricker led the class outdoors, putting his radio-controlled monster truck through a parking-lot snow bank to show off its road skills.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?

The Cashmere demonstration in January kicked off a pilot program that’s bringing PUD employees into classrooms at four middle schools this year. Ruth Erwert, recruiting program manager and Bob Bauer, communications specialist at the PUD, brought the idea to the North Central Educational Service District (ESD). Mechelle LaLanne, ESD science coordinator, worked with teachers and ESD staff to develop the program. Erwert’s goal is to make students aware of career opportunities and “build a pipeline of future workers,” she said. LaLanne’s goal is to place experts in the classrooms to complement the curriculum, which in seventh grade focuses on energy, machines and motion.

The other middle schools and their projects are:

Entiat, where students are working with teacher Kevin Jones to learn about electrical circuits and how they operate mechanical devices. PUD experts offering help and encouragement are John Sagerser, Paul Resler and Cheryl Hobson.

Pioneer in Wenatchee. Under teacher Carolyn Dotter, students plan to investigate the challenges of underwater welding and mechanics. PUD divers Donnie Lane and Brent Thrapp are assisting.

Orchard in Wenatchee. Teacher Dan Myers is working with his students to build a working model of Rocky Reach Dam. PUD employees on that project are Dan Martyn, Tim Halliday, Andy Lolos and Eric Ostrom.

PUD staff will be in the classrooms once a week for six to eight weeks. Then as soon as school is out, students can attend the Action Academy at Rocky Reach. For four half days during the week of June 18, they’ll show-and-tell about their projects, take tours of the dam, talk about how their classroom work correlates to work at the dam, and hear from more PUD staff about career options in other fields.

“Whether students attend a four-year college, a technical school, or stay in the community and apply for an apprenticeship or entry-level job, we want them to realize there are opportunities with our utility,” Erwert said.