Reports aims homes, OPU energy and money on Owatonna

OWATONNA — Is your home an energy guzzler or a haven of conservation?

Beginning this month, Owatonna residents will be able to see how they stack up: Next week Owatonna Public Utilities will send out the first round of Home Energy Reports.

The reports use data from OPU to rank one home’s gas and electricity use to the nearest 100 neighbors. The two-year pilot program seeks to influence customers’ decisions and, it is hoped, drive down their energy consumption. OPU will contract with a private company, Positive Energy, which will compile the reports from data provided by OPU, print them, and send them out in the mail.

“It’s less about peer pressure and more about setting context,” said Josh Bufford, director of partner operations at Positive Energy. “When you’re shopping for a car, for instance, you can check and see if your car gets high or low mileage. But people don’t know if their home a Prius or a Humvee.”

In a report provided by OPU, the home in question used 3 percent more energy than neighboring homes from January to March, and 39 percent more than the most energy efficient family on the block over the course of a year. For those with money on the brain, the report also put the wasted energy into dollars and cents: Gobbling up energy cost that home about $532 extra per year.

The reports give consumers a benchmark, a way to evaluate their energy use, but also the means to cut down. On the back, the report lists energy and money-saving suggestions that are tailored to the home’s energy-use patterns. Some are simple, like setting the thermostat lower during the night. Others would require a capital investment, like installing better insulation.

OPU will be the fourth public utility in the nation to introduce the reports. Home Energy Reports were first piloted in Sacramento, Calif., in early 2008. Based on results there, Owatonna should see a significant decrease in energy use and a fiscal benefit for consumers, said Positive Energy President Alex Laskey.

“Our customers in Sacramento saved $40 and especially in this economy if you can give customers better information they will make smart decisions that save energy and money,” Laskey said.

Bufford said the Sacramento pilot reduced energy use over 2 percent. Though the savings may seem small, the effect will be significant, said Jeff Haase, supervisor of demand efficiency program at Minnesota’s Office of Energy Security

“An average residential home uses 10,000 kilowatt hours, and 2 percent of that is 200,” Haase said. “From an an individual consumer standpoint, it wouldn’t offset your fridge, but if you save 2 percent in every household you have an enormous amount of savings.”

OPU hopes that the Home Energy Reports will help them meet requirements laid out by the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007. Like all other utilities in Minnesota, OPU must show a 1.5 percent energy savings in annual consumption of both electricity and gas by 2010.

To meet this goal, Austin Utilities and OPU joined forces. The Home Energy Reports will cost OPU $90,000 per year, said Roger Warehime, the manager of Energy Management and External Relations at OPU. But the utility has high hopes for the return on their investment. OPU anticipates a 2 percent to 5 percent reduction in energy use per year.

The reports will go out every other month to single family homes that have received both gas and electric service from OPU for at least three months. Warehime estimated that the reports will go out to 8,500 residential customers, though homeowners can opt out of the program if they wish.

Clare Kennedy can be reached at 444-2376.

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Member Opinions: By: L080100 on 3/25/09 $90k per years seems like a lot of money just to inform people that their home uses more or less energy than the next closest 100 homes. If OPU gets their 2-5% reduction in energy use per year, let's hope that is reflected in our monthly bills! By: one_voice on 3/31/09 I dont know about you but I would like to know if my leaky facet or leaky windows are costing me a lot more then need be. Anything to save a buck these days would be helpful. Maybe the improvements that are needed would throw a little money back into the economy. just a thought By: L080100 on 4/6/09 People can perform their own energy audit. There are a TON of resources online. I just don't like that the utility company is spending $90k/year and with all the varying types and ages of homes around here, it wouldn't do me a lot of good to know if the neighbors 1870's place is costing more to heat than our 1950's place.
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