Gerald Winegrad, former state senator, zealous conservationist and outspoken champion of the Chesapeake Bay, says his most recent bill from BGE is $18.26, and he wants everyone to know about it. He's worked hard and worked smart to get his July bill down to this record low, his personal best, and he thinks a lot of other consumers should be thinking about the same, even as summer heat screams across Maryland and air conditioners run day and night.
"There are a few practical things you can do without suffering," he says.
Mr. Winegrad, who teaches graduate-level courses on Chesapeake restoration, land use, and wildlife management at the University of Maryland, lives with his wife, Carol, in a 22-year-old, two-story house of 1,760 square feet in Oyster Harbor near Annapolis.
"We don't live like hermits," he says. "It's an all-electric house. We have all modern, energy-efficient appliances and an electric heat pump."
The heat pump is key to Mr. Winegrad's story. Heat pumps serve as both furnace and air conditioner; they heat a home and in summer switch into reverse to cool it. All pipes, indoors and outdoors, and all ducts connected to his heat pump are insulated, Mr. Winegrad says. His whole house is well-insulated, including the crawl space beneath it.
A few years ago, BGE came to his house and performed what the utility calls the Quick Home Energy Check-up. An auditor provided Mr. Winegrad with a report on the energy efficiency of his house, installed some compact fluorescent light bulbs, a low-flow showerhead and aerators in faucets, then wrapped Mr. Winegrad's hot-water tank in an insulating blanket. It was all free. (Under the program, if a customer allows a BGE representative to install at least three energy-saving devices, the $40 check-up fee and the cost of the devices and their installation are waived.)
"Who wouldn't do that?" Mr. Winegrad says. "There's no downside to it."
He also signed up for what BGE calls PeakRewards, a program that has been around since the 1980s. "That means I have interruptible service on my A/C and my heat during peak demand," Mr. Winegrad says. "They installed a remote-controlled switch on my heat pump. During peak demand, they may send a signal to your house and turn off your A/C for 15 or 20 minutes, and you save money. You don't even know it's happening. In all the time I've had it, I never knew my service was off."
Mr. Winegrad gets $25 off his monthly summer bills for participating in the program. PeakRewards also comes with a programmable thermostat, but Mr. Winegrad did not opt for that. He and his wife control the temperatures in their home as they come and go, and they have a rule they follow in summer.
"If the temperature doesn't exceed 88 degrees, we try to go with fans," he says. "They are highly efficient, especially if you set them up to blow directly on you. I work at home a lot and use the fans as much as possible.
"We also have drapes — they're good looking, but they are thick and block the sun. Blocking the sun from coming directly through windows is important in the summer. And the drapes provide insulation against the windows in winter."
Mr. Winegrad and his wife have compact fluorescent light bulbs throughout the house, but they're diligent about shutting them off when they don't need them. They even pull the plug on devices that have vampire lights — the little green or red monsters associated with computers, coffee makers, DVD players and other gadgets that suck up small amounts of energy. If they're going to be away from home for more than 72 hours, the Winegrads pull the plugs on everything and even turn the refrigerator temperature up a bit.
And so, the most recent BGE bill is $18.62 for 32 days of service, and Gerald Winegrad gets bragging rights. He wants to inspire others to smarten up about conserving energy. And while a lot of us might be skeptical or even cynical about BGE and the company that owns it, Constellation Energy, the utility has programs in place to help customers save money.
"My case," he says, "can apply to all homeowners — free home energy audits and energy conservation devices installed by your utility, switches on your A/C and hot water heater … These are just a couple of things the average person can do to save money but also conserve energy and help the bay and, for that matter, the world."
Dan Rodricks' column appears Thursdays and Sundays in print and online, and Tuesdays online-only. E-mail: dan.rodricks@baltsun.com. http://www.twitter.com/Midday.