Customers to benefit from Focus on Energy programs

In a move that will provide local utility customers with increased access to statewide energy efficiency programs, Waunakee Utilities will officially participate in most aspects of Focus on Energy, Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative.

Effective January 1, 2008, customers of the local utility now have access to the Business, Residential and Renewable Energy offerings under the Focus on Energy umbrella. The efforts of Focus on Energy help Wisconsin residents and businesses manage rising energy costs, promote in-state economic development, protect our environment and control the state's growing demand for energy.

“As energy costs rise and people become increasingly concerned about the environment, saving energy is one of the smartest and most cost-effective things we can do,” says Tim Herlitzka, General Manager “Waunakee Utilities has a longstanding history of aggressively pursuing energy efficiency. Our partnering with the Focus on Energy programs is the most recent example of our community-owned utility’s commitment in this area.”

The decision to opt in to the Focus on Energy programs was finalized at the December 2007 meeting of the Wisconsin Public Power Inc. (WPPI) Board of Directors. Waunakee Utilities is a member-owner of WPPI, a regional power supplier for 41 customer-owned electric utilities in Wisconsin. As a result of the decision, all of WPPI’s Wisconsin membership, including Waunakee Utilities, will participate in the Focus on Energy initiatives.

Herlitzka says that the local utility’s participation in the Focus on Energy programs through WPPI brings added advantages to customers in Waunakee.

“Because we’re participating in Focus on Energy’s important and effective programs through our membership in WPPI, we will also still have the ability to supplement those programs locally, using our own Commitment to Community dollars,” Herlitzka says. “We’re continuing to build on our own local successes while also leveraging the name recognition, market saturation and expertise that the Focus on Energy initiative has accomplished.”