Without Conserving Energy, Don't Complain about the Price

Published Feb 12, 2001, The Post-Tribune

Few would complain to an airline about a flight cancelled while a blizzard rages; the cancellation is beyond the airline's control. But when the weather gets cold, there are plenty of people ready to complain about the gas company.

There is little question why energy prices are on the rise. The price a consumer in Northwest Indiana pays for natural gas is determined mostly by the natural-gas commodity market in Houston, which, in turn, takes pricing cues from consumer demand, since supply is near-fixed over the near term.

Demand has increased substantially across the globe as population rises, homes grow bigger, suburban sprawl becomes a crisis and income rises. More specifically, NiSource reports that the final quarter of 2000 was 15 percent colder than normal.

Meanwhile, the supply of fossil fuels is just as finite as it's ever been and heretofore low prices have rendered new drilling uneconomical.

While bogey men in the energy industry might be responsible for hiring the only Madison Avenue spin-meisters to have flunked Image Control 101, the fact that natural-gas prices have risen between 50 percent and 60 percent is mostly beyond the control of NIPSCO and most other energy companies.

Luckily, there are many ways consumers can conserve energy and reduce their energy bills. For instance, a few dollars in caulk, weather-stripping and insulation can reduce heating and cooling bills by 10 percent, the Department of Energy says.

Since up to two-thirds of a winter gas bill is attributable to heating, reducing the thermostat by a few degrees in winter can more than offset the cost of a few sweaters. "Cheap and easy fixes" can "save up to 25 percent," the DOE adds, with longer-term solutions potentially lopping 50 percent off utility bills. For example, NIPSCO claims a programmable thermostat it sells can reduce bills by 25 percent.

Despite these benefits, energy efficiency is an afterthought to many consumers.

Admirably, some corporations and governments in Northwest Indiana have taken the lead by forming integrated energy-management programs that examine everything from major building renovations to the types of light bulbs purchased.

The Valparaiso Community School Corp. implemented an energy-conservation program in May 1995. Program Director Gregory Kirby estimates that, controlling for changes in rates, weather and load factors, the program has saved taxpayers more than $1.26 million in energy costs.

In fact, for the accounting year ending 2000, the school system's overall energy usage had fallen 12 percent, based on a nominal comparison to accounting year 1995, the year immediately before the program's implementation.

Kirby notes that this drop in usage occurred despite adding air conditioning to six schools, hundreds of computers and other devices which contribute to "load creep."

Families, too, can improve their energy efficiency by turning off lights when leaving a room, buying comfortable sweaters and reducing the thermostat, hiring a handyman or doing it yourself to add attic insulation, installing weather-stripping and double-pane windows, buying energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs and either planting shade trees around the house or putting solar panels on the roof. One can also give such items as gifts to "impossible-to-buy-for" elderly parents and neighbors.

Clearly, those of us desiring lower utility bills ought to practice energy conservation - environmental benefits aside. Citizens Action Coalition, for one, should direct its paid door-to-door employees (they call themselves "activists") to stop slandering the utilities and, instead, to promote energy conservation and efficiency.

Various letters to the editor seem to purport a feeling of entitlement to free or absurdly cheap energy. The most vociferous letter writers, I suspect, are among the people who most recklessly use energy, people who, for instance, routinely leave the lights on when they leave a room or who set the thermostat higher than necessary in winter.

People who use energy more efficiently are psychologically more insulated against price changes because their bills are lower and they derive greater benefit per unit of energy consumed because they use it in a more efficient manner.

In sum, people who use energy more efficiently tend to be less affected when the cost of energy rises.

It is said that one who doesn't vote shouldn't complain about lousy politicians. By the same token, one who doesn't conserve energy shouldn't complain about high utility bills.

Reader-columnist Adrian Jones of Valparaiso is a senior economics major at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.