Saving energy saves costs
SmartHub helps people understand their energy usage
From flipping a switch to shutting off unnecessary lighting to turning computers and monitors off when not in use helps save energy and money.
There’s many ways to save on energy costs in your home as well as business and farm but first it’s a good idea to find out your usage of energy, in this case your electricity usage.
Tom Rafferty, member services and communication manager, said Verendrye Electric Cooperative’s SmartHub is an excellent way for its members to track their electricity usage.
SmartHub is available online and provides services including paying bills online as well as tracking how a Verendrye member uses electricity.
The cooperative, with offices in Velva and Minot, has about 12,000 members – homes, businesses and farms. Its area covers Ward County, McHenry and portions of Renville, Pierce, Sheridan, Wells and McLean counties.
Rafferty, located at Verendrye’s Minot office, said, for example, based on an electric bill of $100 for January usage, Smart Hub will tell how many kilowatt hours used.
“I think this is important because it helps if you have an idea what you are using,” he said.
SmartHub is available to all Verendrye members. They can go to the Verendrye website at verendrye.com to sign up. Members need their Verendrye account number and an email to sign up.
“It’s a great tool because it will show you yearly, monthly, daily and even hourly what you are using in your home,” said Rafferty of SmartHub’s features. For example, a SmartHub graph of the past year showed the largest usage amount for one Verendrye member was in July and August.
SmartHub will also show the amount of electrical usage each day of a month. During some hours the usage is higher than others because people are home and using more electricity, Rafferty said.
“I think this is a good conservation tool because you can actually see what you are using,” Rafferty said. “If you don’t understand what you’re using daily, monthly, hourly, you can still conserve but it’s more valuable if you know what you are exactly using and then you can figure out what you can do to change your habits to save energy.”
SmartHub can be accessed on a computer or smartphone.
“It’s good to start with an understanding of what things cost to run,” Rafferty said.
Rafferty said Verendrye personnel are available to give energy and conservation advice, and also go to homes of Verendrye members to do an energy audit to help people identify ways to save energy.
He said the cooperative also encourages conservation by offering rebates for energy efficient water heaters and incentives for installing heat pumps. People should check with a tax professional on any tax credits.
People can check with their electricity provider if it has SmartHub or a similar program available to check their usage of electricity and other services to help their members with energy savings measures.
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