Ever wonder how your own home energy usage compares to others in town? With the help of a new program offered through the Turlock Irrigation District, now you can.
The new Home Energy Analysis Program by TID will allow customers to review how their energy usage at home lines up with that of similar homes in Ceres and TID area, free of charge. According to TID, the program is meant to better equip customers with information on how to cut down energy use.
"The purpose of the program is to help our customers receive information about their energy savings efforts, and we really wanted to allow them to compare their home with a home that is of similar age and size," said TID spokesperson Calvin Curtin. "By comparing usage patterns from within the district, customers will have a good comparison instead of just asking a neighbor."
Currently, district staff is testing a sample first to make sure the system runs smoothly. When released to the public, TID customers will see a new addition to their monthly TID bill, as the district will place a side-by-side usage pattern comparison on the back of customer bills specific to their home.
"We're trying to make sure that we're not comparing an older home to a newer one, because we want to make sure that we're comparing apples to apples," said Curtin. "Customers don't have to do anything except look on the back of their bill to see how their home compares to similar homes in the district."
The analysis will be printed on the back of the bill regardless, says Curtin, so that customers do not have to opt into the program.
"They can choose to pay attention to the info or not, and we're not collecting any personal information about them," said Curtin. "We just want them to have the best information as possible to save as much energy as possible. At TID, we want to be ahead of the curve, and on the cutting edge of energy efficiency programs."
Curtin says that TID will continue to make improvements to the Home Energy Analysis Program, which is expected to launch in the near future.