On The Road
June 21, 2010
"Average family" gets $75 for cutting electricity use
Posted by Susan Lim
Where: At home
As a BC Hydro Community Outreach representative, I’ve talked to thousands of people about ways to conserve energy and encouraged them to join Team Power Smart to save 10% of their energy consumption.
In the BC Hydro spirit of leading by example, I didn’t hesitate to sign my own family up for the Team Power Smart challenge when I first started as an Outreach Representative in summer 2009.
Fortunately, while as a BC Hydro employee I don't qualify for any Team Power Smart contests, me and my family can take part in the $75 reward program, which is open to all BC Hydro account holders with at least a year's worth of consumption history at their current address. Cut your electricity consumption by 10% or more over 12 months and you get a $75 reward from BC Hydro.
Upon joining, I used the Compare Your Home tool and I was excited to find out our family used less electricity than other similar homes in B.C. – I thought to myself, hanging clothes to dry, washing dishes by hand, and having a programmable thermostat really does make a difference. Even though we were using less than the average home our size, I knew we still had room for improvement.
Although my parents didn’t have any plans to purchase any new Energy Star appliances or install any new Energy Star windows in the nearby future, I knew even no-cost or low-cost actions could have a big impact. To combat standby power use, I started turning off my power bar connected to my laptop, desk lamp, torchiere, and my speakers off every night before I went to sleep and when I was leaving the house.
When I woke up every morning, I began to unplug my cell phone charger. No longer was my room a hangout place for phantom load. Additionally, I replaced my washroom lights with three vanity CFLs – they now come in many shapes and sizes to suit almost any fixture and function. Lastly, our family has always been pretty mindful about turning off the TV and lights, but we found ourselves turning things off more often with the 10% goal in mind.
When our next bill came in the mail, I rushed onto bchydro.com to check our progress. I was ecstatic to learn we had saved 12% of energy compared to the year before! I gleefully shared the news with customers at various events that just a few small changes like ours could make a big difference (yes – that was me.)
As the months went on, our family sometimes faltered – after all, nobody is perfect - I recall we were down to only 5% savings sometime in the winter. A little disappointed, we began to be more diligent about turning things off. Team Power Smart really helped to keep us accountable for our actions.
Recently, on a day like any other, I logged onto our Team Power Smart account to see how we were progressing. I hadn’t realized until I logged on that our one year challenge was now over – and that we had not only met, but exceeded our goal. Just by switching three bulbs to CFLs, using a power bar, and being a little more ‘off switch-happy’, our family had saved 14% of energy.
And to add to my joy, our reward of $75 was on its way! Imagine how many CFLs that would buy!.
Brimming with excitement and pride, I shared the story with my teammates and look forward to sharing this story with everyone I’ll be lucky enough to meet this summer. As we begin our Local Champions campaign this summer, I’m proud to say my family and I are local champions – and your family could be too, by joining Team Power Smart.
Susan Lim is a Community Outreach representative based out of Team Burnaby and will be at community events throughout the summer.
