Weatherization Department
The Friday * Report Friday July 11, 1997
From
The National
Conservation Guild.
970-349-0551 fax
970-349-0923 voice
Info@National Guild.com
WebSite
http://NationalGuild.com
Hospital Saves
Energy -
Builds Community
BOULDER, Colo.--Saint Joseph Hospital, EUA Cogenex-West, a Boulder-based energy services company, and Rebuild Colorado, a program at the Governor's Office of Energy Conservation, have joined forces to pilot a program that will give residents of the inner-city neighborhood surrounding Saint Joseph Hospital new skills that could help them get into the job market while the
hospital gets needed facility upgrades.
By contracting with EUA Cogenex-West -- formerly EUA Highland Corp. -- Saint Joseph Hospital plans to upgrade their energy systems in a project that will pay for itself with reduced energy costs. In the first phase of the project, EUA Cogenex-West is performing an energy audit of Saint Joseph's facility with help from two members of the Hospital's neighborhood, an arrangement that gives the community members valuable work experience.
"In keeping with our mission to serve the health of the community, Saint Joseph wanted to work with some of the people from our neighborhood to make
needed upgrades to the facility and at the same time provide the skills and training to individuals who were motivated to improve their lives," said Sister Amy Wilcott, the Hospital's community health director.
The Hospital initiated the project with involvement from the Rebuild Colorado program which promotes performance contracting for energy efficiency in Colorado.
Performance contracting allows large energy consumers to make capital improvements
that will increase the efficiency of their facility and uses the resulting energy savings to pay for the project.
"Rebuild Colorado commends the Hospital for its work to help the community, while improving energy efficiency at the same time," said Linda Smith, Rebuild Colorado coordinator. "We hope others will follow their lead in implementing creative programs like this one." Once the audit is complete, Saint Joseph Hospital will start the second phase of the project by installing the recommended capital improvements that will help them reduce their utility costs.
They plan to continue to work with the two individuals from their neighborhood as well as seek out additional help from other motivated people in their community.
EUA Cogenex-West is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eastern Utilities Associates (NYSE:EUA). Headquartered in Lowell, Mass., EUA Cogenex is a leader in the energy efficiency service industry throughout North America. EUA Cogenex offers flexible programs to reduce operating costs and generate savings through energy efficiency contracts. The company provides customized capital investment solutions that include guaranteed or shared savings
agreements which often require no initial capital outlay. Information about EUA Cogenex is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.cogenex.com .
CONTACT: EUA Cogenex-West Edward Liston, 1-888-COGENEX
Utility Deregulation
BOSTON-- Boston Edison customers will begin seeing a newly designed electric bill this week. The new bill does not reflect any change in electricrates but it does separate the actual cost of electricity and the charges for delivering it to the customer's home or business.
The new bill is being issued by Boston Edison to help educate and prepare customers for open access or customer choice set to begin January 1, 1998. When the electric utility industry is deregulated in Massachusetts next year, customers will be able to buy their kilowatts from any supplier they wish. However, they will continue to have electricity delivered by their local utility, which will continue to be regulated.
The new bill, will be separated into two major categories, Delivery Services and Supplier Services. Utilities across the Commonwealth will be issuing similar bills.
The Delivery Services Section of the bill will contain a Customer Charge, Distribution and Access Charge and the Transmission Charge. The Customer Charge replaces the "Basic Monthly Charge" on the current
electric bill. It will cover the basic costs of providing service, such as metering, meter reading, billing and an energy conservation charge.
Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.
~ Robert H. Schuller ~
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