CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 6, 2010 – If knowledge is power, will providing customers with knowledge of their home energy usage help them find ways to use less power?

That’s the question Dominion Virginia Power hopes to answer by providing 25,000 randomly selected customers in Charlottesville and Albemarle County with information on how their home energy usage shapes up with that of similar homes. The company also will provide tips on what they can do to improve energy efficiency.

“Customers may not realize how much energy and money they can save by making small changes,” said Ken Barker, vice president of customer solutions and energy conservation. “Our new initiative, Home Energy Reports, will provide personalized tips and show customers the results of their efforts to save energy.”

“We hope that customers who see they are using more energy than similar homes will be motivated to take actions to conserve. And, we hope customers who are using less energy than similar homes will be able to share their tips,” Barker said.

The new year-long energy-saving initiative, which is part of Dominion’s SmartGrid Charlottesville, will provide participating customers with bi-monthly updates on their residential energy usage and how it compares with the average of approximately 100 nearby similarly sized homes. To protect privacy, energy use of other individual homes will not be identifiable. The reports are visually appealing and easy to read, thus allowing customers to make a quick comparison.

“Charlottesville area residents are especially receptive to new ideas and programs that support energy conservation,” said Del. David Toscano (D-57th). “Most people are eager to increase home energy efficiency and save money, but they're not always sure where to begin. Dominion’s Home Energy Reports program can help them get started on making informed choices and saving energy and money.”

Participants were selected at random from among the approximately 63,000 Dominion customers in the Charlottesville area. The program supports Dominion’s SmartGrid Charlottesville goals by promoting community awareness of overall home energy usage.

In addition, the reports include energy efficiency recommendations that are customized for each individual home according to its design, size and heat source. Some are no-cost tips, such as turning up the air conditioning thermostat setting during certain times of the day. Other recommendations may include joining one or more of Dominion’s new peak-shaving or energy efficiency programs, improving insulation, or servicing HVAC equipment.

The report is a collaboration of Dominion and OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company based in Arlington, Va. The OPOWER platform enables utilities to provide information to customers in a highly targeted fashion to help reduce energy use and increase program participation and overall customer satisfaction.

“As a Virginia company, we are particularly proud to be working in our home state,” said OPOWER chief executive officer Dan Yates. “We are excited to help Dominion deliver the value of the Smart Grid directly to their customers, and look forward to helping them lower their energy bills while helping all of us become a little greener.”

Tips on low-cost and no-cost ways to conserve energy are available at www.dom.com, keyword “energy conservation.” Customers also can join Dominion in sharing ideas about how to save energy and money while helping the environment by visiting the company’s energy conservation blog at: http://e-conserve.blogspot.com/

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of more than 27,500 megawatts of generation. Dominion operates the nation’s largest natural gas storage system and serves retail energy customers in 12 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.
 

SOURCE:  Dominion

CONTACT:  Karl Neddenien, (804) 771-6115, Karl.R.Neddenien@dom.com

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