Spencer Municipal Utilities is stepping up efforts to promote energy efficiency in the community with the SMU Energy Efficiency Initiative.  The initiative includes several educational events for customers and new tools to help homeowners identify energy savings.  Funding from the Iowa Power Fund’s Community Grant program is helping pay for part of the various elements of the initiative.

Curtis Dean, SMU’s resource conservation coordinator, says the initiative is designed to build on SMU’s existing energy efficiency program that includes customer rebates, home energy assessments, and free energy and water conservation kits.  “We hope to continue building customer awareness about the need for energy efficiency, and about the tools that are available to help.”

The first element of the initiative is Energy Depot for Homes, a free online service that includes tools for estimating energy use of various appliances and devices, tips for saving, and an “Energy Profile” tool that allows customers to conduct a “self-audit” of their home’s energy use.  “Although we strongly recommend a full in-home energy assessment by SMU, using the Energy Profile function of Energy Depot is a great way for customers to begin to understand where their energy dollars are going,” says Dean.

On Tuesday, March 22nd, SMU will host an Energy Efficient Lighting Workshop at Legends Events and Social Center.  The workshop sessions, free and open to any SMU commercial or industrial electric customer and to area lighting contractors, will give businesses ideas on how to save energy on their interior and exterior.

The culmination of the Spencer Energy Efficiency Initiative will be the Community Energy and Resource Fair on April 29th and 30th at the Clay County Regional Events Center.  The event is designed to be a “one-stop shop” for customers who want information about saving energy and water in their homes, and will feature several informative workshops that focus on various topics of interest to homeowners.

SMU is also planning a student energy and resource fair as well as a motor efficiency workshop, but final details have not been set.

Spencer Municipal Utilities is a leading provider of cable, Internet, telephone and cellular service through i wireless in the Spencer community and has been providing water and electric services since 1886.

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