Tuesday, June 2, 2015
An incentive-based program from Duke Energy
Today our household joined the "EnergyWise" program from Duke Energy. By signing up for this program we are agreeing to let Duke install device on our AC unit that signals the unit to use less energy during periods of peak demand (but never on weekends or holidays). In exchange for this, we get a small monetary rebate ($25) each year and a "free" LED light bulb. This program falls under the category of incentive-based programs, but unlike most, this one is not created by government, but by the private sector. My question to you: Why would Duke Energy pay customers to use less energy? Don't they make profit by selling more energy? What's going on here?
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Looking more into this program I think the reason Duke Energy maybe doing this is for their CSR and showing they care about their greenhouse gas emission which makes them look better to the public. I am not sure about what the regulations are and couldn't find much on it but I think it could also help the company when it comes to regulation and maybe they pay less pigeon taxes when they emit less pollution.
I think that this possibly may be a retroactive response to the Coal Ash Pond issue that happened this past year, they're trying to make a statement that they're interested in more than simply making a profit and about the bigger picture of environmental impacts and their customer's health. But, the point of a business is to make money so to make a program to pay customer's to use less sounds like there's some possible fees or fines that may be tagged along with the program if the program isn't rigorously followed. The 25$ year is probably what they would save as a household to consume less and the 100$ for the referral is probably a deduction off a bill over a period of time and it's probably maxed at 100$ and is 10$ per person and you can only refer up to 10 people or 20$ a person and refer up to 5 or 25$ a person and refer up to 4 people, and so on. I think this program most likely has some fine print tagged along to it. Plus- showing the young kid hugging the globe is a nice PR touch, especially after all the contamination the Coal Ash pond did to local waterways effecting children and their families. (I'm still a little irked about the whole incident and our Governor's handling of the issue, clearly... so sorry if this is too opinionated of a response.)
Duke energy understands that energy producing is based mostly on non-reusable resources so using less energy secures their business in the long run. This could also help them to pay less taxes on their negative externalities that the government makes them pay.
Duke energy is trying to show the population that they do care about the environment after the coal ash incident. Also, Duke energy may be trying to gain customers and keep loyal customers around.
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