
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 13, 1994                   TAG: 9408160027
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

VA. POWER TO TAKE BIDS ON CONSERVATION PLANS

Virginia Power said it will conduct competitive bidding for programs that would conserve electricity and delay the need for additional power supplies.

``We believe the marketplace can supply us with some innovative tools for promoting the wise use of energy,'' said Thomas J. O'Neil, vice president of energy efficiency.

Virginia Power, based in Richmond with customers in portions of Alleghany, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt and Rockbridge counties, will ask for proposals in the first quarter of next year and expects to award contracts by the end of 1995.

The proposals could include ways to improve the efficiency of energy use or shift consumption to times when demand is low, supplies are plentiful and power production is cheapest.

Appalachian Power Co., based in Roanoke and serving most of Western Virginia and portions of West Virginia, has several conservation programs under way, including: subsidies for the purchase of high-efficiency light bulbs, grants to low-income households for weatherizing homes, assistance to businesses in assessing and modifying their lighting systems, and financial assistance for mobile-home owners to upgrade their resistance heating systems to high-efficiency heat pumps.

Virginia Power is looking for proposals that, alone or cumulatively, would save 10 megawatts of electricity at times of peak demand, such as extremely hot or cold days. A megawatt is 1 million watts, or enough electricity to power about 250 homes at any moment.

The experimental program ``will help us identify economical and effective programs to help us provide customers with electricity at the lowest possible cost,'' O'Neil said.

The State Corporation Commission directed the utility two years ago to conduct the experiment as part of new state policies to encourage reducing demand instead of expanding supply.

Jeffrey M. Gleason, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville, has advocated utility-operated programs as the best way to obtain the most energy savings.

He said the bidding experiment makes sense. ``It's probably a good idea to see what options there are ... and this is one way to test that market,'' he said.

Staff writer Greg Edwards contributed to this story.

by CNB