Customers Can Make This Summer A Season of Savings as Energy Costs Rise

As New Yorkers prepare for the first hot stretch of the summer, Con Edison reminds customers they can take advantage of energy savings opportunities in their homes and businesses to cushion against rising costs.

The company offers robust energy efficiency programs to help customers stay comfortable and save energy. In addition, Con Edison offers tips on where customers can look in their homes and businesses to find energy savings.

“Every home and business has the potential to reduce its energy usage,” said Greg Elcock, Con Edison’s director of Energy Efficiency Programs. “We want to help our customers identify those opportunities, so that they can save money and contribute to a clean environment. Our customers are great partners in our efforts to reduce the amount of energy it takes to power New York City and Westchester County.”

Using energy wisely is more important at a time when energy costs are rising across the United States. Customers who conserve during the summer help Con Edison keep its service reliable for everyone.

New Yorkers can stay cool and save all summer by following these money-saving conservation tips:

• Set your air conditioner to the highest comfortable temperature. Every degree you lower the thermostat increases costs;
• Close off rooms that are unoccupied while your AC is running. If you’re in the living room with the AC, close off the other rooms;
• If you run a business, keep your door closed while the AC is running;
• To reduce heat and moisture in your home, run appliances such as ovens, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers in the early morning or late at night when it’s cooler outside;
• When the AC is running, close doors to keep cool air in and hot air out;
• Keep shades, blinds and curtains closed. About 40 percent of unwanted heat comes through windows;
• Even when using AC, use ceiling and other fans to provide additional cooling and better circulation;
• Turn off ACs lights and other appliances when not at home and use a timer to turn on your AC about a half-hour before arriving home;
• Keep AC filters clean.

For this summer, Con Edison is offering residential customers a $50 discount for buying an eligible smart thermostat and another $85 for registering it with Con Edison’s Bring Your Own Thermostat (BYOT) Program. Con Edison is also offering residential customers a $1,000 rebate to weatherize their home with new air sealing and proper insulation.

Con Edison is offering incentives for commercial and industrial customers. They include cash incentives for installing high-efficiency, ultra-low temperature freezers, lighting incentives, and instant rebates for new natural gas and electric food service equipment.

Small and medium-size businesses can get a free, no-obligation energy assessment of their facility. Con Edison will pay about 50 percent of the cost for qualified lighting, HVAC, refrigeration and gas upgrades. Con Edison is also offering financing with rates as low as zero percent and no money down for eligible energy-efficiency upgrades.

Replacing an old air conditioner with a new ENERGY STAR unit can reduce energy usage by 30 percent.

Customers can follow Con Edison on Twitter or Facebook for general outage updates, safety tips and storm preparation information.