Pot of Gold

Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) came out with a Summer Savings program to encourage households to reduce energy consumption. My Dad would be in Heaven... no wait he is in Heaven. What I meant to say was if he was still alive, he'd the happiest guy on the face of the earth and singing the praises of CL&P.

Long before President Jimmy Carter gave a series of energy conservation speeches, Papa was turning down the lights and turning off the TV. But Carter's suggestion to set the thermostat at 65 during the day and cooler at night became a conservationist's creed; Papa was an apostle.

For the past 30 years in my household, I have followed the family around the house to turn off the blazing trail of lights. But when the dog days of summer came on, so did the air conditioner. Last year I got a $500 electric bill in August. I was digging into the winter fuel fund before the 1st killing frost to pay for summer's energy usage.

But this year, CL&P has challenged consumers to reduce energy usage by 10-20% from July through September compared to the same period in 2006. Winners of the conservation game get a discount equal to the percentage saved on their October bill.

I think I am a lock. I signed up for the contest last week knowing I had a few hundred kilowatt hours in the bank. The air conditioner hasn't been on all summer! Now we just have to pray they don't have a rate increase in September.