Salt River Project exceeded its annual goal of helping residential and commercial customers save energy and money through the utility’s Energy Efficiency programs and initiatives.
Last year, SRP’s Energy Efficiency programs for both residential and commercial customers provided annual energy savings equal to 2.3 percent of SRP’s retail energy sales that resulted in a savings of 640 million kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to powering about 35,000 homes for one year.
The largest savings came from the Retail Lighting Program, which offered customers discounted prices on LED and CFL light bulbs from retailers such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. SRP works with retailers and manufacturers to offer reduced prices, which drove annual customer purchases to nearly 2.7 million bulbs.
“The SRP energy-efficiency programs have experienced tremendous customer participation,” said Dan Dreiling, SRP director of Market Research and Customer Programs. “Not only do our customers expect us to provide ways to save, but they are also pleased with the programs we offer and continue to support them.”
Strong participation in the Energy-Efficient Pool Pump Program, Appliance Recycling and ENERGY STAR Homes also helped exceed program goals, he said.
Residential customers also increased their comfort and savings by taking advantage of comprehensive home assessments and rebates for services and products such as home duct repair and window shade screens as well as energy-efficient air conditioners and heat pumps.
Residential customers Steve and Lori Bold of Phoenix took advantage of SRP’s energy efficiency rebate programs when they sealed their attic and duct systems, replaced their two aging heat pumps with high-efficiency units, added new insulation and installed shade screens on the windows.
“As a result of the improvements, we reduced monthly energy use by more than 22 percent,” Steven Bold said. “The online advice and rebates offered by SRP helped to move the projects along and kept our costs down significantly.”
SRP takes an overarching approach to managing its resources in a way that balances reliability, affordability and environmental stewardship. This balance helps ensure the long-term performance of the grid while managing customers’ costs.
“In a dynamic era of changing resource and emissions requirements, these programs will play a pivotal role in cost-effectively meeting customers’ needs while also helping to optimize resources and protect the environment,” Dreiling said.
The vast majority of commercial energy savings was derived from enhanced lighting rebates through Standard Business Solutions, large commercial and industry energy-efficiency projects through Custom Business Solutions and lighting retrofit projects under the Small Business Solutions program.
Fry’s Food Stores participated in the SRP Business Solutions rebate programs to implement 50 projects in 30 metropolitan Phoenix stores. So far, Fry’s has realized about 1.2 million kilowatt-hours per year in energy savings.
“SRP rebate programs help Fry’s continue to reduce our carbon footprint, which is good for the environment as well as our bottom line,” said Ben Tan, energy manager of Fry’s Food Stores Facilities Engineering.
The SRP Board has set a goal to meet 20 percent of SRP’s retail electricity requirements through sustainable resources by the year 2020. Currently, SRP is ahead of schedule – providing about 12.8 percent of retail energy needs with sustainable resources, including wind, geothermal, solar, landfill gas, biomass and hydropower as well as energy-efficiency programs.
SRP is the largest provider of electricity in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, serving about 990,000 customers.
