SRE practices what preaches and saves money
(6-08)

    LUCEDALE, MS –In the first quarter of 2008, Singing River Electric Power Association saved $5,503.80 or 73,384 kWhs on the electric bills at its three offices compared to the two previous years by enacting several small changes and encouraging employees to conserve energy.
     “The savings we experienced were incredible for just four months of efforts,” said Singing River Electric general manager and CEO Lee Hedegaard. “We have been communicating an energy efficient message to our members for years. We knew our employees were conserving but had never tracked our conservation progress.”
      The project began in November 2007, when Hedegaard formed Singing River Electric’s energy committee. Committee members Nick DeAngelo, Jeff Gray, Jason Havard and Stan Mills were tasked with encouraging employees to increase conservation efforts, reducing overall energy consumption at the Lucedale, Gautier and Sand Hill office locations and tracking this progress.
      Changes made around the offices include installing 35 occupancy sensor light switches, changing flood lights/fluorescent bulbs to CFLs, replacing light fixtures that could not accommodate CFL bulbs and encouraging employees to turn off lights and computers when leaving their offices for long periods of time and overnight.
     “Turning off lights is more important than most people think,” said committee member Nick DeAngelo. “Lighting is the number one use of energy in a commercial building with heating and cooling a close second.”
     “We are proud of our employees’ efforts and also that this is a direct savings to our members due to the fact that we are a cooperative business,” said Hedegaard. “Singing River Electric plans to continue our conservation efforts and hopes it inspires our members to do the same.”