California Utility Customers Conserved, Saved Millions

(AP) 10.29.01, 5:05p --

More than one third of eligible utility customers answered Gov. Gray Davis' call to cut electricity use by 20 percent and earned a 20 percent discount on their power bills, utilities said Monday.

Combined, the customers will save millions of dollars on their electric bills, and by reducing their power use kept themselves from being charged record rate hikes passed by the state Public Utilities Commission in the spring.

To get the discount, customers of all sizes had to trim their power use by 20 percent or more during any one of the four qualifying summer months -- June through September.

A third of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s 4.6 million electric customers saved a combined $120 million on their electric bills. At Southern California Edison, more than 373,000 customers saved a combined $855,956. About 374,000 San Diego Gas and Electric customers earned a combined $6.24 million.

Californians slashed their power use so much they were lauded by state and utility officials as a chief reason the state weathered the summer heat without having to shut off the lights.

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), October 30, 2001

Answers

We received the 20 percent discount and another 20 percent for joining the summer air conditioner cycling program (where SCE can turn off your A/C for up to 30 minutes each hour from 12:00 to 17:00 by remote control). Plus, since the kid got married and moved out, the TV and all the lights in the house aren't on all the time.

Last month's bill for electricity was $12.00 !!!

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), October 30, 2001.

I can't come close to $12.00, but have shaved my PG & E bill, too, considerably. Reason? In Aug., last year, got a new heat pump. In following Nov. wife died. Energy consuming kid moved out over the summer. Because I am the world's worst housewife I put the stove and oven in mothballs, and eat entirely from a microwave and Vita Mix. It paid off. My electricity bills (all electric home), which averaged $200 a month in years past, nosedived to an all-time low of $75 last month.

-- JackW (jpayne@webtv.net), October 30, 2001.

My biggest conservation was in May, when I turned off the A/C entirely and started living out on the patio. Over the summer I hung out clothes to dry instead of using the dryer and when I used the A/C at all, the thermostat was set at 80. My lowest monthly consumption was 240 kwh, but lately it has run about 400 kwh. Last year I was using twice that. Even though I am with a municipal utility, not one of the big 3, I saw a big drop in cost from 1 month to the next.

-- Margaret J (mjans01@yahoo.com), October 31, 2001.