You don’t have to look further if you wanted to save energy. Your best source of energy saving tips is just ”an invoice away:” your friendly utility companies. I know that these companies are for profit but they also wanted you to conserve energy to save the environment. Not only that they have a lot of energy saving tips but they offer a lot of incentives or rebates that you may not be aware about. As you know, utility companies have somehow monopolize designated regions. Each regions are run by various companies so I won’t be listing all of them. Instead, I will just look at Southern California Edison just to provide you examples of the things that you can get from them. With up to $1,000 worth of rebates and incentives that the company offers, it surely pays to be eco-friendly!

2007 Residential Savings Guide

Recycle your old appliance and get rebates:

  • $35 rebate for a refrigerator
  • $50 rebate for a freezer
  • $35 rebate for an electric water heater.

Saving Tips:

FACT: Replace just four of your most used incandescent bulbs with CFLs and you’ll save up to $35 a year.  

ENERGY STAR® Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) save money and are better for the environment. To be specific, a CFL uses up to 75% less energy than a similar wattage incandescent bulb. And they last as much as ten times longer than incandescent bulbs.”

FACT: An average-use customer can save up to $300 per year on their energy bill with an energy-efficient, multi-speed pool pump and motor.

You can start saving every day when you replace your old equipment with qualified energy-efficient models. Get a $200 rebate with a multi-speed pump and motor or a $30 rebate with a single-speed pump and motor.

FACT: Whole house fans typically use about one tenth the electricity of comparable-sized air conditioners. Everyone knows that heat rises.

When you install a whole house fan in your attic, you can quickly and efficiently remove this hot, stuffy air and help cool with your entire house. SCE will help you pay for the installation of a whole house fan with a $100 rebate. you’ll also save money using the whole house fan in combination with your central air conditioner.

FACT: Using solar energy to supply energy to a million homes would reduce CO2 emissions by 4.3 million tons per year, equal to removing 850,000 cars from the road.

Southern California has an abundant supply of sunshine. And solar energy is friendly to the environment. By installing a photovoltaic solar energy system into your home, you’ll help keep California’s air clean and diversify our energy supply. Incentives are available through the California Solar Initiative to help offset the cost of buying a solar energy system. This program is authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission and began January 1, 2007 and runs for 10 years. Plus, you may qualify for U.S. Federal tax incentives. (Consult the IRS or your CPA for more tax information.)

So when you use energy wisely, not only that you’re saving money but you are also saving the environment. So check with your local utility companies and discover the various rebates and incentives that you can avail!

Source: SCE.com