Spotlight on Energy
Energy conservation did save her money

 By Jonathan Gramling

 Part  5


    Since June 2007, the price of a barrel of crude oil has jumped from $60 to approximately $93. Natural gas prices are also up as we enter the heating season.
During the heating season, which roughly runs from the middle of October through April, a household’s utility cost can skyrocket, often times quadrupling
at the height of the winter season in January and February.
    While high heating costs can put a crimp in the budget of the typical middle class family, depending upon how new and well insulated their home is, a
sudden escalation of energy costs can have a devastating impact on economically challenged households. A spike in the monthly bill can force a family to
make a choice between eating and heat.
    As a service to our readers, The Capital City Hues in collaboration with MG&E and the Wexford Ridge Women Rise Up group is featuring a series of
articles on how to save on heating costs. Brenda Bollig lives on a limited income in a rented townhouse with her three grandchildren, one of whom is an
infant. Bollig has implemented her own ideas about energy conservation, adopted measures presented to her by Charles Warner, an MG&E residential services
specialist and applied for energy assistance at Energy Services, Inc. While Bollig has traditionally cried when opening her winter utility bills, this winter it
was a different story.
    “I didn’t cry this year when I got my January bill,” Bollig exclaimed during a meeting with Warner at her Wexford Ridge townhouse. “I didn’t cry at all. I had to
look twice. I saw these three figures, but then saw the CR at the end of it. ‘That’s my credit?’ I’m set. I’m going to make it through this winter. I’m going to fly right
through it. I’m real pleased.”
    It was a combination of all three initiatives that Bollig undertook that resulted in the credit. And even though she lives in a much larger townhouse, her
January utility bill was less than her bill last year. “I had electric heat with no control over the temperature and there was no circulation in that place,” Bollig
recalled. “The air was stagnant and we were sick a lot then. It was much higher because I lived on the corner of a building. And when I got my bill for this
month, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was so much lower than the two bedroom apartment.” Warner was very impressed because of the drastic change in energy
usage in the townhouse from one year to the next. “We’ve been monitoring your usage,” Warner said. “You’re doing just a phenomenal job. I don’t know if you got
the most recent bill in February. Your actual consumption of natural gas therms to heat went down by about 30 percent. That, in and of itself, is a great number.
But couple that with the fact that it was actually a much colder winter this January than last January. Then fact that you have an infant in the household is
all the more phenomenal to me. On the electric side, your consumption went down by almost 50 percent from last year. Those energy savings and the measures
that you took when we first started are really starting to benefit you.”
    Bollig has a credit on her MG&E bill due to the energy assistance that went directly to her MG&E account. “When you apply for energy assistance, you
receive a one-time public heating benefit,” Warner explained. “That’s from a federal program. But since you made such an effort to conserve energy, but
also maintain your payment history with the utility company, Katie at ESI wanted to reward that and she helped you out with the MG&E Energy Fund, which is a
fund that MG&E has from customer donations and ESI actually administers that fund for MG&E. We figure they are the best at that and which families need
it. They make sure that funding gets to those folks that need and deserve it the most. So you got federal funds and then also a private fund as well.”
    While Bollig could coast on her utility bill for a month or two because of the energy credit, she has continued to pay half of her monthly bill, therefore
stretching the energy credit throughout the heating season. “The temptation to not pay anything used to be there,” Bollig said. “But this is such an incentive
to keep my head above water that I want to pay half that bill. In the past, it has gotten completely out of control. So now, I have a grip on it this time around.
And it is working real well for me. And I am so appreciative of MG&E and all of the services. I’m totally in control of this bill right now, the first time in a long
time. I’m real happy.”
    And as Bollig continues to make her own payments on her bill even with the presence of the credit, it’s creating a good history that gets noticed. “If you
were to apply next year and they see that you are maintaining that monthly payment, they are more than likely to try to help you out even further,” Warner
predicted. “I think that is one of the reasons why they helped you out with additional assistance this past heating season, the fact that you made such a
commitment to pay your bill and trying to get the cost under control and paying that arrears so that it doesn’t get out of control. You are helping yourself.”
    Bollig is continuing with her energy conservation efforts. She’s going to start unplugging televisions, cell phone chargers and other electric appliances that
use power even when they aren’t turned on. And Bollig has a blanket on each chair in her living room. “It was a little cool in here yesterday when it was 40
below,” Bollig observed. “But it was nothing that we couldn’t deal with. We put some extra layers on, got our blankets and snuggled.”
    For Brenda Bollig, energy conservation — with some energy assistance help — has placed her in control of her family’s energy needs and the family budget.
And one can’t help but get a warm feeling from a success story like that.
MG&E’s Charles Warner reviews the energy savings that Brenda Bollig (r) has
experienced this year from the same period last year.
For the first time in years, Brenda Bollig did not cry when she received her
January utility bill.