Recently, during meetings to discuss the sale of Kaua’i Electric to the Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative and in the Forum there have been attempts to discredit Kauai Electric’s residential Energy Wise program solar water heater component. Kauai Electric wants its
Recently, during meetings to discuss the sale of Kaua’i Electric to the Kaua’i
Island Utility Cooperative and in the Forum there have been attempts to
discredit Kauai Electric’s residential Energy Wise program solar water heater
component. Kauai Electric wants its customers to know that the residential
Energy Wise program is a comprehensive energy efficiency program, not just a
solar water heating program. It has three main components that take place
during a home visit. The home visit evaluates the household’s total energy use
and seeks to promote lower consumption through the following.
Energy
Education – all the main appliances in the home are reviewed and the customer
is advised on how to use their appliances more efficiently which will help them
use less energy. A checklist of 23 energy saving tips are reviewed with each
customer during the home visit.
Installation of Free Devices – During the
home visit a representative will, whenever appropriate, install energy saving
showerheads and faucet aerators, lower the temperature on the water heater and
add additional tank insulation. A customer can also receive compact fluorescent
lamps. These devices are free to the customer and in smaller families may be
all that is needed to moderate the bill and save them hundreds of dollars a
year.
Evaluation for Solar or Heat Pump Water Heating – Information is
gathered during the home visit that helps to determine if it would be cost
effective for the customer to install an alternative water heating system such
as a solar water heater or heat pump water heater. If, based on a review of
household size and estimated hot water use, it is determined that it would be
cost effective to do so, a homeowner would be offered a 45% incentive rebate, a
low income homeowner a 75% incentive rebate, and a landlord a 75% incentive
rebate on full-time rental property.
Shortly after the home visit the
customer will receive a packet of information by mail notifying them if they
qualify for an incentive rebate and explaining the process that they need to
follow to receive it. Kaua’i Electric has adopted an Installation Standards and
a Qualified Products List for the system installed under the program. For this
reason, existing systems and systems installed outside the program parameters
do not qualify for an incentive.
Since the residential program started in
early 1998, Kaua’i Electric has conducted home visits at 3594 homes that heat
water with conventional electric water heaters or solar with electric backup.
We have found that approximately 45 percent of all homes that we visit already
have solar water heating. Many of the households that we visit have less than
four occupants and have low levels of electricity use. To date we have offered
incentive rebates to 800 customers for whom solar or heat pump water heating
would have been cost effective, and over 120 customers have installed systems
under the auspices of the Energy Wise program. The average incentive rebate
paid by Kaua’i Electric has been $2300, compared to $500 to $1000 on the other
major islands.
Comparing the Kauai Electric solar component to the type of
programs offered on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island is difficult. Because their
solar water heater programs were started one to two years earlier than Kauai
Electric’s and serve populations four to twenty times larger than that of Kauai
they have historically installed and will continue to install a larger number
of systems. Additionally their larger populations allow them to spread the cost
of their program to more people allowing them to spend more money on them with
less financial burden on the individual ratepayer. They do not screen
individual installations for cost effectiveness before offering the rebate.
This may encourage a greater number of systems to be installed but also allows
less cost effective systems to be installed. The goal of Kauai Electric’s
demand management program is to reduce peak demand in order to defer the
installation of the next generating unit. Marginally cost effective systems do
not assist in the attainment of this goal. Pre screening each system for
cost-effectiveness prior to offering an incentive, will ensure that the system
will reduce demand for the utility as well as reduce consumption for the
customers. This also allows Kauai Electric to keep program expenditures modest
and lessens the rate impact to the customer.
The residential Energy Wise
program has been approved by the Public Utilities Commission and endorsed by
the Consumer Advocate and Kauai Electric believes that its design meets the
needs of Kauai by producing cost effective Demand Side Management.
Persons
with electric water heating that have questions or wish to participate in KE’s
Energy Wise program are encouraged to call 246-8284 to schedule an appointment
for a home energy visit.
Raymond Mierta
Energy Services Specialist,
Kauai Electric
