REA offers incentive for members to reduce energy consumption

Talk about it

It may seem unusual that an energy company wants you to save energy, but that’s just what Runestone Electric Association (REA) is doing and it’s getting the word out to its members that each home can make a big impact by making some simple changes.

In fact, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), enough energy would be saved to:

•?Light more than 3 million homes for a year,

•?Save more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and

•?Prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

If that’s not enough incentive, REA is offering its customers an added bonus. REA members have received a $2 off coupon for any GE-brand Energy Star CFL in their electric statement.

In addition, participating Wal-Mart stores throughout Minnesota, including Alexandria, will offer instant markdowns on GE-brand Energy Star CFLs.

Members also can enter to win a grand prize $1,000 home lighting makeover or one of 28 $250 lighting prizes.

To sign up for the sweepstakes, co-op members can visit www.mnbrighterideas.com between August 1 and October 31, 2008. After taking a short quiz about CFLs, they automatically will be entered to win.

The $1,000 grand prize will be awarded to a member who resides within one of Great River Energy’s 28 member cooperative service territories. In addition to a home lighting audit and home lighting makeover, the winning home will be featured on www.mnbrighterideas.com, where other customers can compare electricity costs before and after the home lighting makeover.

“We all want to do our part to reduce energy usage and costs,” said REA CEO Rick Banke. “Switching light bulbs to CFLs is one easy way to make a big impact and we’re hoping to help our members do just that.”

CFLs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. According to Banke, each CFL in a home can save about $30 in electricity costs over the bulb’s lifetime. The bulbs, which are available in different sizes and shapes to fit almost any fixture, also produce about 75 percent less heat than traditional bulbs, making them safer to operate and cutting energy costs associated with home cooling.

Runestone Electric Association serves more than 13,355 electric service accounts in the rural areas of Douglas, Pope, Grant, Stevens, Otter Tail, Stearns and Todd counties.

Tags: reduce, rea, incentives, energy, consumption