Summer Electricity Savers Gets Fall Rewards

BRIDGEPORT (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Connecticut people who cut their electrical use over the summer are getting rewarded with smaller bills this month.

United Illuminating Co. and Connecticut Light & Power say they are giving credits of nearly $18 million under the Summer Saver Rewards program.

The two electricity providers say more than 309,000 customers were able to cut their electricity usage by at least ten percent.

The program was enacted this year and was open to all customers who lived or had a business operating in the same location in 2006.

Any who reduced their electricity consumption by ten percent or more for the three months that ended September 30, compared to the same period in 2006, received the credit.

Anita Steeves, a UI spokeswoman, said 8,511, or 2.6 percent, of its 320,000 customers earned credits.

“We believe our customers are more educated when it comes to conservation,” Ms Steeves said November 26.

UI has had a variety of active conservation programs since the 1980s, Steeves said, making it much harder to trim use by the requisite ten percent. But despite the decades of conservation work, Steeves said the program showed there is still significant savings to be had.

“Year-over-year, it’s going to be harder to reduce consumption,” Jeff Tilgham, a CL&P spokesman said.

More than 301,000 of CL&P’s 1.2 million customers earned the discount, Mr Tilgham said. CL&P customers earned about $13.8 million in credits off their bills this November.