Back in early June I posted about PG&E's 20/20 Summer Savings Program. The utility challenged its customers to reduce their average daily usage of electricity by 20% cumulatively for June through September and those who were successful would be rewarded with a 20% rebate on all electricity used for the period.
Twenty percent is a lot to shave off a household's electrical usage, but they dared us, dammit. So for four months we were diligent about turning off lights and eliminating unnecessary consumption. We won. The September bill came yesterday and it showed a 22% reduction in consumption for the period. Take that, PG&E!
I suspect that the most important steps I took were turning off the seldom-used little refrigerator on the wet bar and unplugging the Insta-hot water dispenser at the kitchen sink. Nice conveniences, but we've hardly missed them.
It also didn't hurt that we didn't run the air conditioner for a single day during the period. We never needed it and we probably only ran it for a handful of days during the same period last year.
I haven't done the math but I don't think our rebate check will amount to more than $75. Oh well, it wasn't about the money, it was about the challenge!
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