PSE Customers Practice 'Next Generation' of Energy Management; Puget Sound Energy Urges Shifting...

Business Editors

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2001

Supporting Gov. Gary Locke's statewide call to conserve electricity, Puget Sound Energy (NYSE:PSD) today recommended that consumers couple their traditional energy-saving efforts

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"Our region's households and businesses effectively could reduce their demand for electricity by shifting some of their energy consumption away from the hours when wholesale power prices generally spike up each day," said Gary Swofford, PSE's chief operating officer and vice president-delivery.

"Conventional measures, such as setting back thermostats, turning off lights when not in use and installing energy-efficient appliances, remain effective ways to lower consumption," Swofford said. "But we can do more. The next generation of energy conservation isn't just about weatherstripping, putting on a sweater, or adding more attic insulation. It's about empowering the consumer to take control of energy, use it wisely and be rewarded for taking action."

For example, Swofford said, if Puget Sound Energy's 920,000 electric customers shifted just 10 percent of their peak-hour electricity use to off-peak times of day, it would free up about 200 average megawatts of power, enough to light nearly 200,000 homes.

Shifting electricity to off-peak hours also could lower consumers' power prices, Swofford said. Studies predict that by shifting a portion of peak-demand usage to hours when electricity is in less demand, consumers could significantly lower wholesale electricity prices. "We can easily and comfortably reduce demand for electricity simply by shifting use from peak to off-peak times," said Swofford. "A kilowatt consumed in the middle of the day can cost several times more than the same kilowatt used at night."

Many Puget Sound Energy consumers already are practicing this next generation of energy management by responding to price-signal information provided in their monthly bills.

This winter, more than 400,000 households and businesses are seeing detailed energy-use data in their monthly PSE bills. The information shows them just when they are using electricity--whether at expensive peak-use times or during an off-peak period at bargain prices.