News Releases

Walton EMC Customer Owners Changing Lights to Save Money and Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2006

Contact Heather Hodges, 770/266-2408 or Greg Brooks, 770/266-2307

MONROE, Ga. - Walton EMC customer owners from Atlanta to Athens are signing up to save energy—and the environment—one light at a time.

So why would an electric company want customers to save energy—and thus money—on their electric bill? Because Walton EMC is customer owned. That is why Walton EMC is partnering with ENERGY STAR in the Change a Light, Change the World campaign, urging its customer owners to take the ENERGY STAR Change a Light Pledge.

Change a Light, in its seventh year, is a national call to action from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This is Walton EMC’s first year participating in the campaign.

When customer-owners take the pledge, which can be done online by going to waltonemc.com and clicking on the Change a Light banner at the bottom of the page, they commit to changing one light in their home to an ENERGY STAR qualified light—a  compact fluorescent (CF) Bulb.

CF bulbs offer warm, bright light and use at least two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer than traditional models. On average, each CF bulb can save more than $30 in electricity costs over the lifetime of the bulb and prevent more than 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

Lighting accounts for 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill and is one of the easiest places to save energy. Changing a light at home or work can save on energy bills while also helping to reduce the risks of global warming because most electricity is still generated by burning fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere.

Walton EMC has set a goal to have 500 customer-owners take the pledge by ENERGY STAR Change a Light Day, October 4. If that goal is reached, those who make the pledge will save 141,000 kilowatt-hours of energy and prevent the emission of 223,000 pounds of greenhouse gas.

Walton EMC is a customer-owned power company that serves 115,000 accounts over its ten-county service area between Atlanta and Athens.

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