Most people have a love-hate relationship with their utility company. They love that every time they need it the electricity is right there, the lights turn on, the heating and cooling system starts up, their phone charges. On the other hand, they hate that every month they have to pay up, and sometimes it can be difficult to see the relationship between how much the bill is and how much electricity you used. For households and small businesses this can be a couple hundred dollars each month, but for larger businesses this can be thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars each month.
But what if you could get money back from the utility? Well, you can. In fact, for more than a decade, Wade Morehead ran programs for utility companies throughout the Midwest that gave more than $500 million (a half-billion dollars!) back to their customers in return for these customers making their homes and businesses more energy efficient. It seems counter-intuitive that utilities would encourage their customers to reduce their energy consumption when energy is what they sell, but it actually makes long-term financial sense for several reasons.
First, utilities are required to meet the demand for energy, and energy efficiency (reducing demand) is less expensive for the utilities than increasing supply (building power plants). Second, most states have passed legislation mandating that utilities offer these programs with a prescribed level of spending and savings goals. Check out this website for more detail today. We will also provide a more in-depth look at utility regulation in a future post.
Here’s the one thing to remember: Third, utility programs are funded by utility customers. We don’t use tax dollars to fund these programs, you pay for the programs through your utility bill. These charges may be labeled or they may be hidden under categories such as “System Access.” Either way, you pay for these programs, and you can use that funding to help pay for energy saving projects at your home or business.
Morehead Energy will help you determine the most cost-effective projects to do and make sure you get back every dollar you can during the process. Get in touch with us today, and we’ll go to work for you.
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