LEWISTOWN - The West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF) has provided a $105,000 grant to the SEDA-COG Energy Resource Center (ERC) to assist 10 municipalities within the West Penn Power service territory, including Bellefonte, in developing energy management plans.
This grant will provide utility bill analysis to identify how much energy they use, how and where they use it, and recommend specific priority action items to reduce their consumption and costs. WPPSEF, in collaboration with ERC, will assist the municipalities in significantly reducing their electric, heating, and water usage, thereby saving their taxpayers money. The ERC has been providing these services since 2007.
"Our funding of this activity will provide participating municipalities in our 23-county service area with a roadmap to better understand their energy use within their facilities and to prioritize actions to reduce their operating costs," said Joel Morrison, WPPSEF executive director.
The ERC will also work with the WPPSEF to raise the level of awareness that the WPPSEF provides financing to municipalities to implement energy efficiency improvements recommended by the utility bill analyses and energy assessments.
Three of the municipalities will receive further assistance from the ERC to procure and partially finance comprehensive energy analysis of those facilities that use industrial processes, such as water and wastewater treatment facilities.
"Bellefonte and Lewistown boroughs and Granville Township, and many other municipalities in SEDA-COG's region are saving their residents money by significantly reducing their facilities energy use as a direct result of our technical assistance,", said ERC Director Stacy Richards. "In 2011 our clients reported that they shaved $257,650 off their annually utility bills, at today's rates, by reducing 2.16 million kilowatts of electricity. As these rates increase over the years, so will their continued energy savings."
SEDA-COG will likely subcontract a portion of the project services to support municipalities across the service area to the Local Development Districts members of the Pennsylvania Energy Partnership (PEP). PEP provides expert advice and technical assistance to clients as they work toward improving their energy efficiency through a network of seven-member local development districts.
The West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund invests in the deployment of clean energy technologies throughout the West Penn Power service region in Pennsylvania. Investments are made to promote the use of renewable and clean energy, energy conservation and energy efficiency, and the attraction, establishment and retention of sustainable energy businesses. Individuals can visit www.wppsef.org for more information.
SEDA-COG is a publicly funded development organization based in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and serves an 11-county region. Individuals can visit SEDA-COG's Energy Resource Center for more information: erc.sedacog.org/.
