HOW MUCH does it cost to screw in an energy-saving light bulb in Nova Scotia?
Too much.
Under the energy conservation program being managed by Nova Scotia Power, it is costing up to $29 in additional expenses to provide a $4 light bulb.
These extra costs include marketing, delivery, consulting, handling mail-in rebates and administration.
They start at $3 for a $3 light bulb in the residential program, where homeowners screw them in themselves but soar by up to ten times that amount in some business programs, where commercial grade bulbs are installed by delivery agents.
The detailed costs of the 2011 conservation plan were buried in the evidence submitted to a public hearing this week, where the utility’s message seemed to be: get over the details and look at the big picture.
Demand-side management, or DSM for short, refers to a suite of measures designed to get customers to reduce their demand for electricity.
"They have a really terrific pay back," Alan Richardson, a vice-president with Nova Scotia Power, said in a phone interview this week.
"They actually save many times what they cost."
The utility hopes to avoid $190 million in energy costs by investing $42 million in conservation measures. The monthly fee added to residential power bills to pay for the plan would rise from $2 to $4 and customers who use the programs would contribute another $23 million.
For example, the program offers a $200 rebate for an energy-efficient washing machine valued at $519. The homeowner would pay the reduced price and the difference would come from the pool of money collected from ratepayers.
This incentive was questioned by a consumer advocate at the hearing before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board because it favours customers who can afford the new washer. Yet their rebate is paid by ratepayers who may not be able to afford this luxury.
As well, the utility forecasts no net financial gain to ratepayers if some customers switch to a new washing machine through this program because the cost is equal to the value of the energy being saved.
However, other products offered in the conservation plan can yield energy savings worth 10 times the cost.
Customers who take advantage of the programs should see the effects of energy savings "right on their bill," said Richardson.
"So it’s not real hard to show them the benefits (of energy conservation) because they see it immediately."
But he said the benefits are harder to see for other "folks who paid something on their power bill to help support these programs."
"Because it’s an avoided cost," said Richardson as he explained that these customers may not see a direct effect from conservation on their power bills.
"But the key is that they’re lower than what they otherwise would be."
Later this year, Nova Scotia Power will hand over the conservation program to a new agency called Efficiency Nova Scotia.
It should review the screwy light bulb scheme and devise more brilliant ways to make these conservation programs effective and fair.
Rachel Brighton is the publisher of the regional magazine Coastlands and a former business editor and journalist.
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