High-Efficiency Showerhead Giveaway at State Fair Park
JSOnline reported yesterday that the first 500 Milwaukee County residents who drop off unwanted household hazardous waste at State Fair Park on Friday and Saturday will receive a free high-efficiency showerhead.
The hazardous waste collection is coordinated by the Milwaukee Metropolitain Sewerage District (“MMSD”) and is free to all Milwaukee County residents. Collection hours are:
- 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, October 14th
- 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 15th
The MMSD has an extensive list of items that you can bring to the collection site as well as a list of prohibited items. To view the list, visit the MMSD website. Examples of items that are accepted include:
- Gasoline/oil mixtures
- Cleaners, solvent-based
- Disinfectants
- Thermometers
- Batteries
- Fertilizers
Milwaukee Energy Efficiency Program
Thomas Content, who covers the Energy industry for JSOnline, recently wrote an interesting article about the announcement of the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency Program, which is referred to as Me2.
Here’s how the program works. A homeowner can contact a Me2 Advocate, who will set up an energy evaluation for their home. The homeowner will be charged a fee, but it will be subsidized by the Me2 program. If the homeowner implements the top three suggestions from the energy evaluation, the cost of the evaluation can be rebated. The improvements must be made by a contractor that is approved by the Me2 program.
The Me2 program also helps homeowners take out loans to improve the energy efficiency of their home. The homeowner then uses the savings on their energy bills to pay off the loan. The goal of the program is to help 4,000 homeowners reduce their utility bills.
According to the Me2 website, the program is designed to help homeowners that fall into certain income groups. The Me2 website does not specify the income criteria that is necessary to participate in the program. However, if you do not meet the criteria you can also check the Focus on Energy website to learn more about other energy efficiency programs such as Targeted Home Performance with Energy Star.
If you are interested in learning more about the Me2 program, check out the Milwaukee Energy Efficiency program website.
Milwaukee Furnace Service Coupons
Thanks to the arctic blast that has arrived in Milwaukee, furnaces have been working overtime to keep homes warm. To help ensure your furnace is running in tip-top shape, we suggest you make sure that you’ve recently changed your furnace air filter. In fact, Energy Star recommends checking the filter every month. If the filter looks dirty after a month, change it, and at a minimum, be sure to change the filter every 3 months.
If you don’t change your air filter on a regular basis, the air flow will slow down and your HVAC system will need to run harder, leading to wasted energy. In addition, a dirty filter may lead to dust and dirt accumulating in the HVAC system which could lead to expensive repairs.
If you are in need of repairs or an annual tune-up, we found several furnace tune-up coupons from Milwaukee area furnace experts that might be useful to you. If you are aware of any other quality HVAC contractors in the Milwaukee area offering a deal, please contact us and we’ll add the information to our post.
1st Choice Heating and Cooling has four coupons on their website, including coupons for $5 off any service if you provide them with your email and $25 off a service call (does not apply to diagnostic charges or tune-ups). Coupons expire 12/31/2011.
Allied Heating & A.C., LLC has a coupon for a $79 furnace tune-up. Expires 1/31/2011.
Burant Heating and Air Conditioning LLC has a coupon on their website for $10 off a regularly priced $105 performance tune-up.
Burkhardt Heating & Cooling has a coupon for $20 off any service over $100.
RJ Heating and Air Conditioning LLC gets kudos for listing their prices up front. $84 for a gas furnace cleaning, $99 for an oil furnace/boiler cleaning, and $25 for a carbon monoxide text.
You can also use a free service called Service Magic to search for contractors. After filling out a little information on the Service Magic website, they will match you up with up to four contractors. Contractors can compete for your business and you have the opportunity to review comments from past customers in order to help you find the best match for your needs.
Interested in saving more money by conserving energy? Check out our other helpful energy savings tips.
WE Energies Rate Increase Effective January 1, 2011
According to an article by Thomas Content on JSOnline, rates for WE Energies residential and business customers went up January 1st.
The average residential customer will experience an increase of $5.50 a month, which is an increase of about 4.7% on a typical utility bill. That’s an average increase of $66 a year! The reason for the increase is WE Energies has finished paying out credits to customers from the sale of the Point Beach Nuclear power plant.
But wait, there’s more bad news.
The average business customer of WE Energies is going to see their rates go up 8 – 13%, and Content mentions that one energy intensive business will see their rates go up 20%. What will these Milwaukee area businesses do? Pass the increases along to customers by raising their prices? Reduce salary increases, bonuses, and profit sharing? Layoffs? Not hire new employees?
Sorry, it gets worse.
More rate increases are on the horizon. The Public Service Commission will be meeting on January 6th to discuss a rate increase proposal for 2011. Content also reports that it is expected WE Energies will file paperwork in March to request another rate increase for 2012.
What is your reaction to this news? Do you plan to take action to offset the rate increases? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
Throughout 2011 we’ll be sharing strategies to help you reduce your utility bill. In the meantime, here are a few helpful posts we’ve written in the past:
- How to Get a $50 Credit on Your WE Energies Bill
- Save Money on Your WE Energies Bill with a Time of Use Program
- WE Energies Budget Billing
- How to Seal Air Leaks in Your Home
- Home Assessment Tool from Focus on Energy
- Have You Changed Your Furnace Air Filter Recently?
Targeted Home Performance with ENERGY STAR
Focus on Energy administers a program to give qualifying Wisconsin residents assistance with evaluating and implementing energy efficient projects. The program is called Targeted Home Performance with ENERGY STAR and is available to Wisconsin residents who meet certain income requirements based on 60% to 80% of the State Median Income. For example, a household of one person needs to have annual income between $23,435 and $31,246 to qualify. A household of four people needs to have annual income between $45,067 and $60,089.
Those who qualify can receive a free home energy evaluation. Depending upon the results of the evaluation, the homeowner may receive insulation, heating and cooling updates, energy saving devices (CFLs, water-saving showerheads, etc.), and/or ENERGY STAR qualified appliances. Homeowners might also have their air leaks sealed as well.
For complete information on the program, including income requirements and an application, visit the Targeted Home Performance with ENERGY STAR webpage at FocusOnEnergy.com.
Also, if you or someone you know has participated in this program, please contact us. We would like to learn more about this program so we can share experiences and benefits with our readers.
