WPPI's programs save enough energy to power 13,500 homes

Customers of Wisconsin Public Power Inc.'s member utilities achieved energy savings of more than 25,000 megawatt-hours of electricity and more than 39,000 therms of natural gas in 2007, thanks to cost-effective energy efficiency programs by Sun Prairie-based WPPI and its members.

"WPPI and its members believe that the utility of the future should be dedicated to helping customers save energy," said the organization's president and CEO, Roy Thilly. "Helping customers to use energy as efficiently as possible helps to both lower their bills and preserve the environment."

The energy savings was achieved through a variety of programs to help both residential and commercial customers reduce their consumption.

Homeowners were assisted through programs such as central air conditioner tune-ups, CFL light bulb rebates, and turn-in programs to retire old, inefficient appliances.

Commercial and industrial customers received funding for lighting updates, manufacturing equipment upgrades and energy management programs for schools.

Added to the electric savings achieved since the programs' inception five years ago, the cumulative savings realized by customers of WPPI member utilities is 120 million kilowatt-hours per year -- equivalent to the electricity used each year by 13,500 homes.

The environmental benefits of these energy savings include preventing the emission of more than 104,500 tons of carbon dioxide -- the same as removing 18,000 cars from the road.

This cumulative reduction in diversified demand offsets the need to generate 17 megawatts of baseload power and helps reduce the need to build new power plants.

"Saving energy will be just as important to our future as building new generation," said Thilly. "It costs far less to save a kilowatt-hour than it does to build a new, large power plant to generate that kilowatt-hour."