PSE Programs Preserve Jobs and Avoid 450 Million Pounds of CO2
Puget Sound Energy announced today that the utility’s energy efficiency programs and customers’ conservation actions taken in 2008 will save customers nearly $30 million annually on their energy bills, in addition to the $45 million in rebates, grants and discounts customers already received on energy-saving equipment. These actions taken by customers will also reduce their total carbon footprint by more than 450 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually, or the same as taking 38,000 cars off the road.
“Our success in 2008 can be attributed to our customers and employees. Together, we achieved a remarkable level of energy savings - the highest electricity and natural gas savings ever achieved by Puget Sound Energy,” said Cal Shirley, vice president of Energy Efficiency Services for PSE. “PSE is committed to helping our customers reduce energy costs in this challenging economy and helping to combat climate change.”
Exceeding savings targets by more than 26 percent for electricity and 46 percent for natural gas - all-time record highs for the utility, PSE residential and business customers saved enough electricity in 2008 to power 23,000 homes or a community the size of Bainbridge Island, Wash., and enough natural gas in a year to serve more than 4,000 homes or the equivalent of the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle.
Based on recent industry studies, PSE estimates that its investments in conservation programs resulted in 450 new jobs throughout Western Washington. While other local employers were forced to cut jobs, the increased customer interest in energy efficiency has generated new staff positions at the utility and the local contractors and distributors who support its programs.
“PSE demonstrates regional leadership and sets a standard for other utilities,” said Tom Eckman, conservation manager for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Portland, Ore. “Not only did PSE clearly exceed its own 2008 targets for energy conservation, PSE’s savings for the year were a third higher than its share of the region’s target.”
PSE customers saved a combined 274 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 3.7 million therms of natural gas through the 2008 conservation program efforts. Electric savings for 2008 beat the utility’s previous record by 8 percent, and natural gas savings were similarly record breaking at more than 30 percent over 2007 savings.
In 2008 overall, PSE customers received efficiency rebates totaling $27 million for 81,000 efficient equipment purchases and 3.1 million compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Also, more than 800 local businesses received PSE energy management grants totaling $18 million to support their custom conservation projects.
“Over the next 20 years, we project that 50 percent of savings will have to come from behavior changes, so we’re gratified to see this demonstration of our customers’ commitment to conservation,” added Shirley.
A significant part of the energy savings achieved by PSE customers is due to the more than 9.5 million CFL bulbs in use that have been distributed by the utility since 2002, saving the equivalent of powering 35,000 homes for a year.
PSE’s home weatherization program also saw unexpectedly high participation levels in 2008, and resulting savings were 75 percent over the year’s goal. Insulation rebates, the main component of the program, are currently one of the highest dollar-value incentives PSE offers to residential customers - as much as $1,600. Participation in the program during 2008 was up 44 percent over 2007, with customers receiving $1.9 million in rebate benefits.
For business customers, custom Conservation Grant programs, in which a PSE energy management engineer helps the business owner develop an individualized savings plan, showed the highest savings in 2008. Projects that included variable speed motor drives, HVAC equipment upgrades, and industrial process modifications appealed to business managers who prefer to evaluate and choose for themselves which investments are most cost-effective for their particular operations.
During the past five years, PSE customers have increased their electricity savings by 77 percent and their natural gas savings by 64 percent. The utility expects to see similar savings in 2009 as PSE continues to develop new and innovative programs to help Western Washington residents and businesses use less energy and save more money and the environment.
Since 1978, PSE customers have achieved cumulative first-year savings of 3.3 billion kWh of electricity, and since merging with Washington Natural Gas in 1997, 22 million therms of natural gas. PSE predicts that its energy efficiency programs will save enough energy over the next 20 years to negate the need for building two additional mid-sized, 250-megawatt power plants.
To learn more about PSE’s energy efficiency programs for homes and businesses, visit PSE.com or call a PSE Energy Advisor at 1.800.562.1482.
About Puget Sound Energy
Washington state’s oldest and largest energy utility, with a 6,000-square-mile service area stretching across 11 counties, Puget Sound Energy serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers.PSE, a subsidiary of Puget Energy, meets the energy needs of its growing customer base primarily in Western Washington through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service to deliver energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible. For more information, visit PSE.com.
Contacts:
Puget Sound Energy
Rebekah Anderson, 1-888-831-7250