Saving Energy Saves Money
Everybody wants a lower electric bill—we can teach you how to get one!

At MP&W, we're committed to helping our customers save energy dollars. What's good for your electric bill is also good for our utility, our community, and for the environment!

To help promote energy efficient practices, MP&W has developed an extensive energy efficiency program, Energize Muscatine. This program is partially funded by a grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. In 2005 alone, through Energize Muscatine, we helped our customers reduce their need for energy by a total of 10,093,236 kWh-for a total energy cost savings of $1,425,625!

For his part in these efforts, MP&W's full-time Energy Services Advisor, John Root received the U.S. Department of Energy's 2001 Rebuild America Partnership Leader of the Year Award.

We invite you to look through the Energy Efficiency area of our web site. If you have any energy-efficiency related questions that aren't addressed on this web site, please feel free to contact us.

Helping our Residential Customers Use Energy Wisely 1kWh at a Time
by Gary Wieskamp, Director of Utility Relations

We receive calls each day asking for ways to reduce electric energy consumption. Calls may range from an elderly couple on a fixed income wishing to have a home energy audit or a young family counting their pennies wanting help in figuring out why their monthly bill was so high.
To encourage and assist our customers in using energy more wisely, we have residential, as well as commercial, energy-efficiency programs in place to help identify and actually reduce electric energy consumption.

For example, residential customers can take advantage of an energy audit and/or a blower door test to help determine air exchanges in their home. This service is free and is very popular at this time of year as energy bills are received. In the spring we offer a central air conditioner tune-up inspection that is performed by a technician of choice and we pay a small portion of the cost. We also offer energy efficient appliance rebate programs to encourage the purchase of energy efficient appliances. These rebates apply to air conditioners, compact fluorescent lighting, dishwasher and clothes washers, electric ranges, dryers, electric water heaters and refrigerators.

Our most popular residential rebate program for 2004 was our clothes washing machine rebate followed by our air conditioner program. In reviewing the status of energy-efficiency programs for 2004, the kWh savings for residential customers was approximately 573,100 kWh. We processed approximately 1,100 residential rebates and reimbursed $53,142.

Why does MP&W offer energy-efficiency programs? The reasons are simple. First of all, we are required by the Iowa Utilities Board to file an Energy Efficiency Plan with the Iowa Utilities Board every other year. MP&W is not mandated to spend a specific amount, but is required to offer programs to customers and provide program details in our Plan.

Second of all, MP&W educates customers on managing energy usage. This in turn leads to a better community and further protection of our environment by reducing demand on scarce and expensive natural resources. As a utility, we can sell our excess energy on the wholesale market, which ultimately results in much lower electric prices.

In the last six years, residential rebate program participation has doubled. Many customers are doing their part by becoming more efficient and wise in the use of individual energy consumption. Every time steps are taken to save energy, it helps in the long run for the next generation and many generations to follow.