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September 1, 2007
Communities Focus on Energy Efficiency and Internal Reviews, Public Power Magazine, Septemper-October 2007
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Tim Blodgett
Hometown Connections
303-526-4515
tblodgett@hometownconnections.com
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Energy Depot, RCx, & Organization Health Check Are In Demand
Public power communities are reinvigorating their energy-efficiency programs in response to the global climate crisis. “Energy efficiency is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest means of reducing energy consumption, thereby avoiding the emission of greenhouse gases,” said President and CEO Alan Richardson in his address at the 2007 APPA National Conference. In addition to their focus on energy efficiency, public power managers are working with the Hometown Connections consulting team to evaluate their utilities’ operational efficiency and business strategies.
Through Hometown Connections, APPA members are giving customers the information they need to reduce energy usage and costs by adding a set of Internet energy tools from Enercom called “Energy Depot” to their utility Web sites. Enercom’s suite of online resources includes Energy Depot for Homes, Energy Depot for Business and Water Depot for Homes. These applications feature Web-based energy audits, easy-to-read graphs, recommendations on energy savings, and a comprehensive energy library with tips and fact sheets for residential and commercial customers.
Enercom recently released version 5.0 of its Energy Depot for Homes software suite. New features include:
Multiple audits—Customers may complete multiple energy audits and save them for future use.
Energy profile summary report—Customers receive a summary report listing all their recommendations and tips by potential dollar savings, as well as by ease and cost of implementation. Customers can use this report to track and manage implementation of their recommendations.
Payback calculators—Customers may estimate the time to recover their investments in home energy efficiency.
Environmental benefits—Utilities may present the greenhouse gas reductions customers will realize when implementing energy efficiency recommendations.
Energy comparison tool—This enables utilities to help customers facing replacement of their home HVAC system or water heater.
More than 400 energy and water companies use Enercom’s custom software. Through the Hometown Connections partnership with Enercom, Energy Depot is available to APPA member utilities at deeply discounted prices. Further discounts are available to members purchasing the Energy Depot applications through state or regional public power organizations. For example, in June 2007, 14 Florida cities joined together through the Florida Municipal Power Agency to purchase Enercom’s online energy audit software. Other participating organizations include ElectriCities of North Carolina, American Municipal Power-Ohio, the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative and the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority.
To improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings, APPA members are turning to EMC Engineers Inc. for retro-commissioning (RCx) services. RCx is a systematic process for improving the conditions and operation of an existing building by “tuning up” the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems and controls. RCx will typically reduce the owner’s annual energy costs by 5 to 15 percent, and the savings will likely pay for RCx in less than one year.
In addition to its support of energy efficiency programming, Hometown Connections is helping public power utilities analyze and improve the performance of the full range of utility operations. For example, utilities are bringing in the Hometown Connections team to conduct an organization health check. After meeting with utility staff, Hometown Connections provides a low-cost, quick assessment of key areas of utility management; customer service; power supply; distribution operations; administration, accounting and finance; rates; costs; technology; employee safety; expertise; planning; human resources; and governance.
As the new city administrator of Lehi, Utah, Jamie Davidson was eager to obtain an independent perspective on the performance of the power department. “We were very pleased with the work the Hometown Connections staff did with us on site. The discussion was engaging and at times challenging. The breadth of the Hometown staff’s knowledge of public power operations was impressive and helped our staff sort out priorities for improvement. The report they prepared for us will be a valuable guide for us in the coming months,” Davidson said.
“As Hometown Connections begins its 11th year of securing group discounts and special service arrangements from leading industry suppliers, we remain committed to supporting APPA’s core mission—helping public power utilities deliver adequate, reliable electricity at a reasonable price with proper protection of the environment,” said President and CEO Tim Blodgett. “We are working with Survalent Technology, DCSI, and MainNet to help members improve operational efficiency through innovations in SCADA, metering and grid management. We’re testing a national eProcurement system through a pilot project at AMP-Ohio.
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. has become the 18th public power organization to join the Hometown Connections sales and marketing network, helping us to provide our full suite of products and services, including customer information software, customer and employee research, defibrillators, and consulting in the areas of broadband communications and business strategy development. In 2008, Hometown Connections will announce new alliances for the products and services that public power officials tell us they need and want.”
See these web sites for more information.
• Enercom, Inc.
• http://www.hometownconnections.com/utility/enercom.html
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