Oct. 25 Daily News editorial

Individuals and families who sign up to compete in The Daily News/Cowlitz PUD monthlong contest this fall to cut their energy costs will not only be putting money in their pockets. They’ll also be early participants in a broader, 20-year effort to sharply reduce the region’s energy consumption and carbon footprint. That, too, would put money in the pockets of everyone in the Pacific Northwest.

On the front page of today’s Daily News, Don Jenkins reports that the Northwest Power and Conservation Council — the four-state agency dedicated to ensuring a reliable and affordable supply of energy — is completing a comprehensive plan for energy development over the next two decades.

The emphasis will be conservation.

Energy conservation has a big payoff, for both individual ratepayers and big industrial users. And that payoff will continue to grow as the cost of energy continues to rise.

The council has calculated that this four-state region will require enough new electricity to power five cities the size of Seattle by 2030. Four of those cities, Jenkins reports, could be powered by using less electricity to turn on lights, run appliances, heat homes and buildings and the like.

Conservation can eliminate the need for new power plants. And, as PUD spokesman Dave Andrew told Jenkins,

“It’s cheaper to conserve than to build a plant to generate power.”

Andrew also has noted that the more power people save the less the utility will have to buy from more expensive sources. With our local PUD and other utilities facing restrictions on their share of low-cost federal hydroelectricity, conservation is fast becoming critical to holding down energy costs.

Cowlitz PUD is hoping to conserve enough electricity for 13,000 households over the next decade, according to Jenkins. Twenty percent of that energy-savings is expected to come from home conservation. The PUD provides incentive for home owners to conserve. The utility is spending $2 million annually to reward ratepayers who take steps such as better insulting their homes and buying energy-efficient appliances. PUD officials told Jenkins that they plan to approximately double this spending to help area industries become more energy efficient.

There is plenty of incentive for homeowners to begin making energy-saving changes. Low-cost or no-cost conservation measures at home can have a fairly quick impact on energy bills. Those individuals and families that sign up for this fall’s conservation competition can get good advice on how to go about cutting their electricity bills at the PUD conservation office. To participate, call Daily News reporter Erik Olson at (360) 577-2510 or e-mail him at eolson@tdn.com. Direct questions for the PUD to Dave Andrew at (360) 577-7502.