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Homes closer to 'buffer zone,' power billing starting

By Mike DiCicco | | May 3, 2013

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The Resident Energy Conservation Program already began to have its desired effect aboard Quantico, before actual billing even started.

“The goal of the program is to drive down energy consumption across the base,” said Harry Marshall, regional RECP manager for Lincoln Military Housing.

In mid-February, residents began receiving monthly “mock bills” for the previous month, indicating whether or not they would have been billed or credited under the program. The mock-billing data collected for January showed that base housing used a total of 1.4 million kilowatt-hours of energy that month. That number dropped by more than 200,000 kilowatt-hours for the month of February.

“That’s a really good number overall,” Marshall said. Consumption didn’t drop again in March, but he said he expects that it will decline next month, when residents begin to receive actual debits and credits to their accounts.

Actual billing went into effect May 1, and residents will receive their last mock bill — for the month of April — in mid-May. The first actual bills and credits will go out in mid-June.

Under the new system, households whose energy consumption falls more than 10 percent below the average household consumption within their group of like-type houses on base for the month will receive credit to their accounts. Those that consume more than 10 percent above the average for their group will receive a debit to their accounts for the month.

If debits reach $25, a household will be billed, and at $25 of credit, the household can receive a check. Monthly debits and credits are proportional to the amount of energy used or saved outside the 10 percent “buffer zone.”

The hope is that most households won’t be financially affected, Marshall said, adding that, with time, everyone should move closer to the monthly average.

 This is already happening, he said. For example, the number of homes within the buffer zone in February rose to 324 from 313 the month before, and that number rose again to 334 in March. The average debit was $22.64 in January, $20.57 in February and $19.11 in March, while the average credit also fell, from $15.75 to $13.78, to $12.53.

So far, the number of homes receiving credit has consistently been larger than the number being debited.

During these practice months, RECP managers also made some changes to how homes were categorized into like-type groups, largely due to feedback from residents.

“Some of them were concerned because they didn’t feel they were put in the right like-type group, and they were right in some cases,” Marshall said, noting that end units in townhouse communities are now categorized separately from the units between them. Units with garages under them were also put in separate categories because the temperature in the garage can affect the home temperature.

“That’s why we do pre-mock and mock periods, is so we can look at those types of things,” he said.

“There is some resistance to change,” said Joy Barbosa, housing manager with Lincoln. However, after residents attended town hall meetings on the subject, received mock bills that show the average and buffer zone for each group and where the household fell in that spectrum, and perused information on the RECP website, she said, “my emails and my telephone calls went way down.”

Through the RECP website, residents can use a username and password to check how their energy consumption compares with the rest of their group from day to day, Barbosa said. The site also has a video explaining the program, a set of frequently asked questions and answers and tips for saving energy.

Residents who are more than 20 percent above the average for their group can use a link on the site to fill out a home energy survey, in order to have a Lincoln representative conduct an energy audit on their homes.

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com


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