Clark Public Utilities offers higher rebates on efficiency incentives

Those looking to upgrade their windows or switch to a heat pump water heater may benefit from the latest round of energy-efficiency incentives offered by Clark Public Utilities.

The utility announced last week it’s now offering higher rebates in several of its heat pump upgrade programs, new incentives to upgrade windows with more energy-efficient ones, as well as up to $1,500 rebates for heat pump water heaters.

The utility began offering energy-conservation incentives for customers in the 1980s that have since led to a savings of 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours. (Kilowatt-hours measure the total electricity used by a home or business over a specific period of time.)

In addition to helping customers save on their bills, energy-efficiency programs will help the utility lower overall demand for electricity, which otherwise would be a challenge to meet.

“The kilowatt-hour that we save is the kilowatt-hour we didn’t need to produce at a power plant or through one of the hydro dams,” said Debbie DePetris, energy services manager at Clark Public Utilities.

The utility is working to add more power sources as it prepares to wind down its River Road power plant, and it recently set up a new plan with Bonneville Power Administration to get additional power as needed. But the utility still is projecting a shortfall between what it can supply at peak times within the next 10 years and what it expects customers will demand.

“Having conservation as a part of the solution to all of this is definitely a priority for the utilities,” DePetris said.

Older homes targeted

Those 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours saved in the past 45 years equate to enough energy to power some 114,000 average-sized homes in the Pacific Northwest for a year.

“Energy efficiency is about maximizing the performance of the energy you use,” said Dameon Pesanti, spokesman for the utility.

“Homes built before 1990 are prime candidates for energy-efficiency upgrades,” Pesanti said. The state started raising its energy-efficiency building code standards after that, he added. They’re now some of the highest in the nation.

Older homes, often underinsulated and poorly weatherized, require more power and utility costs, Pesanti said.

He said such investments as new windows, more insulation, a heat pump or a heat pump water heater can make a home more comfortable, improve its value and pay back the costly investment over time with more energy savings.

Making these upgrades can significantly lower electricity bills, DePetris added.

The utility has offered commercial rebates for weatherization and lighting for years. Commercial lighting draws quite a bit of power in the region.

A win-win for businesses

Lisa Houser has used Clark Public Utilities’ incentives twice in the past few years at her Hazel Dell shop, Utopia Salon at 1503 N.E. 78th St., Suite 2.

Houser replaced fluorescent ceiling lights with LED panels and received a $2,000 rebate from the utility both times she participated. It was a win-win, she said.

“As a salon owner, lighting is so important, and these gave us the natural light that we can adjust,” she said.

The switch also helped Houser’s business reduce its electricity usage and its monthly bill.

While incentives have helped her business, they’re becoming more and more central to utilities’ strategies to meet customer demand.

The Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee expects demand for power in Washington to skyrocket in the next decade, and “finding enough power in the future will be a significant challenge.”

“Our infrastructure needs on the energy side are not keeping up,” said Kurt Miller, executive director at the Northwest Public Power Association, which represents public utilities, electric cooperatives and cities in the Western United States and Canada.

Miller said Clark Public Utilities’ incentives may not be enough on their own to offset some of the region’s biggest drivers of energy use, like electrification and the increasing number of data centers.

“But with other utilities doing similar things, you have a chance to gain some really valuable, important megawatts to keep the grid reliable and safe,” he said.

The Washougal School District has saved hundreds of thousands of kilowatt-hours at a handful of its schools since using the utility’s incentive programs the past few years.

It’s not just one big thing that will fix the region’s energy outlook, Miller said.

“It’s going to take new sources of generation. It’s going to take batteries. It’s going to take energy efficiency,” he said. And it’ll likely take demand response for big companies to power down during a grid crisis.

The utilities’ incentives, Miller added, are among the many steps that need to be taken in the region to address a pending energy crisis.

Sarah Wolf: 360-735-4513; sarah.wolf@columbian.com