May 16, 2025 • 30 mins
The Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, is a government agency that was created during the Great Depression in 1933 to help modernize the Tennessee Valley region. Its main goals are to provide affordable electricity, manage natural resources like rivers and forests, and support economic development. On this episode of TENNESSEE MATTERS, Ashley England of TVA EnergyRight joins John Clark to talk about ways to save money on your energy bills this summer. #tva #TVAEnergyRight
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Tennessee Matters on the Tennessee Radio Network. Welcome to
Tennessee Matters. I'm John Clark on the Tennessee Radio Network.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is the government corporation created in
nineteen thirty three to improve navigation, control flooding, and promote
economic development for the Tennessee River Valley. Today, we have
(00:21):
Ashley England, TVA's energy saving expert here to tell us
how you can save money this summer. First of all,
where is TVA telled by? What TVA is?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
All? Right? Well, TVA stands for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
We're a federally owned corporation and we were created in
nineteen thirty three under FDR's New Deal, and we were
established really in this region because it was so hard
hit by poverty and TVA. We're now America's largest public
(00:51):
power provider and we serve ten million people across seven
states in the Southeast region. And not only do we
provide power, but we manage a system of dams and
reservoirs to help control flooding and improve navigation of the
Tennessee River. And we also focus on environmental suitorship stewardship
(01:12):
and economic development. So we kind of do a lot
of things.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, you do, you do a lot of it is
Tennessee primary, your primary area?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, so we serve almost all of Tennessee and it's
definitely where we have more customers based in Tennessee, but
we also serve you know, parts of Alabama, northern part
of Alabama, Mississippi, southern part of Kentucky, touch of Georgia, Virginia,
North Carolina. So but you're you're absolutely right, Tennessee is
our with a lot of folks in Tennessee. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, because you're based out of Nashville.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Guess right, Well, we're technically headquartered in Knoxville, Okay, Yeah,
but we have large offices in Chattanooga, Muscle Shoals, Alabama,
and then Nashville as well.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, and now with the seasons changing, well, first, well
let's talk about last last time we had you in here.
We talked about what to do for winter. How'd that go?
Did you get some take you up on the special offers?
You haead?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
We did? We did?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You know, we had a lot of folks take our
DIY Home Energy assessment, which was really exciting and great
a lot of people got their HVAC tune ups done,
which I'm going to talk about again today because it's
the season again. And yeah, you know, we we had
one of our we had our highest winter peak this year,
so we still have a lot of growth in the
(02:29):
area that we're seeing. But we really do think that
all the people kind of undertaking these energy management tips,
tricks and upgrades made a real difference.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Good, well, we'll keep doing it now. We've got that
for the summer now too.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
It's right, it's a different ball game.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
A different ball game. Boy. It came kind of early.
All of a sudden, it's getting hot, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It felt you know that one of the southern I
thought we were going to have the what do they
call it, you know when you think it's going to
be hot and then it gets cold again. Ye, right,
but no, it might be here to stay.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
There, it's here to stay, I think this time. I've
got a sweater on today and I'm burning up. Yeah, well,
let's go over. Let's talk about some of the things
that a person can do as they're as they're burning up,
to do to do to get their heating builds. I mean,
they're not their heating bills, they're cooling bills. That's what
(03:22):
they need to do. Let's talk about that. Some things
to do. What are some things you need to do?
Just the things to.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Start with, you know, if you just you know, want
to save some energy around your house, and you know,
maybe you're not ready to make any big upgrades necessarily.
There's a few things. One is wait till the sun
goes down to run those major appliances. You know, you're
talking your dishwasher, your clothes washer, you're dryer, things like that.
(03:48):
Those appliances create heat themselves, and so it's gonna make
your house harder to cool itself because you're creating heat.
But then it's also a more expensive part of the
day to use electricity. So if you can wait until nighttime,
that's going to help your house stay cooler. It's going
to help your bild stay cooler too.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I didn't know that, and I've been running my stuff
during today. No no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And I'll say too. One of the cool sports a
lot of applients is now like my dishwasher, you you
can just do a delay, you know. And you a
lot of dryers now too. If you've bought a dry
in the last five years. Their delay options, so you
can say, hey, I want it to run in two hours,
so it's not like you have to get up, you
know and run it in the middle of the night
or anything.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, right, run in the middle of the
night and say, yeah, I didn't know this is this
is a good one for me. Already you started to
save me money. So so just run those.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Late yep, that's right. You know your air filter, I
will We'll mention it any season we can. You want
to make sure that your air conditioning filter is clean.
If the can if the filter has got built up
you know, dust, dand er hair, all that stuff, it's
going to mean that your h VAC unit's gonna have
to work harder to pull air through it. So your
h VAC unit's gonna have to work harder, might wear
(04:57):
out sooner. But it also means to air your breed
isn't going to be as clean. So make sure you
keep that filter. Change you know, we recommend just putting
it on an auto order once a month, have it
arrive at your house and that that'll trigger you to
change it out. And then I always say, you know,
listen to your mom shut the door. Oh really, yes, yes, yes,
(05:19):
she was right. Of course, mother's always right. As a
mother myself, mother is always right. But you want to
keep that cool air in. Minimize the times you can
open and shut the door, especially you know, leading outside.
And the same goes for the fridge door. So if
you catch somebody standing there scratching their head trying to
figure out what they want to have to eat, so
(05:39):
could you please close the door and think about it,
because I.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Just want to say, who would leave the refrigerator door over?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh? Oh you got it? I know a teenager or two.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh okay, okay, so you keep those doors. Just shut
the door quickly, that's right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That's right. Just try to minimize it. You know, a
lot of in and out that's gonna be again, it's
gonna take all that nice cool air and it's going
to send it out the door.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Do a fan dance? What is that about? Do a
fan dance?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Explain right, So, ceiling and floor fans can be really
effective to keep air moving in your home. And so
you know, yeah, if you're if you're going to another room,
you got a floor fan, move it in there. You
turn it on. The ceiling fan whatever room you're in.
I just like to remind people turn it off when
you're not in the room. Fans cool with people, not rooms.
(06:28):
They don't do anything for the room. The way the
fan works, you have to have a person there to feel,
you know, if a if a tree falls in the
wood and there's no one there to hear it. The
fans the same way.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So keep it there. Again, I didn't know that. I
thought you keep it going all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
No, some people are like, oh, it just keeps the
air circulating and fresh. No, you know, the way the
fan works is essentially it's the moisture on your skin
when the cool air hits that that's what's keeping you cool.
But if you're not in the room, can't benefit from it.
So yeah, that's right, and honestly too. The other thing
to remember is that fans you use a lot less
power than like turning your air conditioner lower. So if
(07:05):
you can manage to avoid setting your air conditioner a
few degrees lower and just use fans instead, you're gonna
help yourself out.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
So if you use the fans that don't use the
air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
That's right. Yeah, you know, we're just you know, so hot,
I'm gonna set the air conditioner down even lower, turn
on the fans first. See if that does the trick.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Do you do you still need to turn them off
when you go out the room. Yes, okay, okay, that's right. Okay,
well turn it off when the room. I didn't I
did not know that. Two things I did not know.
I didn't know that about the fans. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I think another one too is, you know, using shades, curtains,
things like that, especially during the heat of the day,
that can help. And then I'd like to think too,
a lot of the times, the hottest part of the
day is when everybody gets home. You know, the heat's
been building up all day and then everybody gets home,
(07:56):
they want to start prepping meals and doing homework and
watching TV. And so try to plan meals that don't
require to use your oven. I think that's a really
great way because to save energy and to keep the
house cool, that oven range and the stovetop and the
range they're gonna produce produce a lot of heat, right,
(08:17):
so it's gonna make your HVAC have to work harder,
and they use electricity often. I know some some people
have gas ranges and whatnot. But again it's still gonna
make a lot of heat in the room itself. So
try to play in microwave meals or even instant pot
or air fryers. Those are great and a lot less
(08:38):
energy intensive and they don't put off as much ambient heat.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Is it good to unplugged unplugged power down? You've got
on here? But is that Let me ask you this,
when you're not using your coffee maker or you're a
toaster or something like that, is it good to unplugged that?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yes? Really it's yes. A lot of people don't realize,
but a lot of those small electronics appliances they can
drop power even when they're not on. So yeah, they
we call that vampire power, vampire load. And again it's
because it's sucking the power out of your house. You
don't even realize. Even phone chargers really, yes, a charger
that's plugged in, even if there's not a phone charging on,
(09:15):
it does draw a little bit of power. So that's
just yeah, she can add up.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
That is astonishing to think of that. You don't think
of that. But like these powered cords here now are
unplug them? We lead tonight and.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You saved that much in And that's one of the
reasons I love a power strip. Honestly, if you can
put in a power strip, you put it all all
those things like that kind of try to put them
on a similar power strip and you just press the button.
You don't have to worry about, you know, going and
plugging back in and then plugging all that good stuff.
So power strips are great for that.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Send your old appliance is packing.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Oh yes, if you have an old fridge, which a
lot of people do, they get their new fridge, they
move the old fridge out to the garage and they, oh,
maybe I'll use it for you know, spillover if I
have a big costco order or something like that. But honestly,
those old appliances are often the least efficient thing in
(10:07):
your house, and if you can recycle it, you can
really save yourself a lot of energy. You know, I
would never take away somebody's you know, beer fridge or
something right, right, but they really do. And especially if
you have it, say in a garage, which is an
unconditioned space, it really is gonna it's it's working hard.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So really so when you move it out to a garage,
it can use more power that way.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well, you know, again it depends on how much heat
you know, the fridge is putting off, that sort of thing.
But yeah, it's I would say anytime you can recycle
an old appliance rather than plugging it in, just in case,
you're gonna be better off.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I know people that use they're still really old. I
mean they just lugging along to keep beer cool or
sodas or whatever. And it's just for that, and it's
really out in the garage, chug chugging along. It's been
there for twenty years.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, and gosh, I mean if you if they only
knew how much energy, you might be better off getting yourself
like a little mini.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
For yeah you really yeah, yeah, I didn't know. I
didn't realize that. Oh well, so send your older parent
is packing how how old? I mean, if you haven't
your house, it's within the last couple of years, two
or three years, it's okay, Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, I mean I would say, if your fridge is
getting up there fifteen twenty years old, there's probably much
more efficient yeah options out there, and those less efficient
options might be burning up a lot more energy than
you realize. Okay, all right, all right, another one too.
That I think about when I think of my kitchen too,
is the grill, you know, getting outside using your gas,
(11:44):
your charcoal grill rather than using your indoor appliances. You know,
this is the time, this is the grill master season,
So get out there and savior oven, the wear and tear.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, everybody's that once the grill out anyway, that's.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Right, Yeah, that's right. It's great, super super effective for
lowering your energy.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So having a grill, having agree obviously using whatever else
it's besides, you're in your house, it is better. But yeah,
well you can also cook other things on there too,
to cook everything on that.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You sure can. I mean you can again plant meal
planning can be great for so many reasons. I mean,
you know, I try. We try to think about it
in our house. Okay, well we could use the air
fire for this the sides, and we use the grill
for the main or whatnot, and and then everybody's a
little bit happier by the time you get to dinner.
You know, you're not sweating as you sleep over a
hot stove.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah. I guess a lot of people just have to
get home from work. They work all day, they get
home from work. They just want to do it in
a hurry, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, well it's true, but I mean again, the air
fryer if you want, if you're in a hurry, that's
the appliance for you. The air fryer. Great. Oh it's
so fast.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, it's very it's very good. Huh, go and get
an air fryer. Now, a slightly warmer house equals less
scizual on your budget.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, all right, well, well the best natural this is
the controversial one, right, And then it's your thermostat setting.
And what we'd recommend is that you just you set
your thermostat as high as you feel comfortable during the day. Honestly,
it makes the biggest difference. The biggest energy user in
your home is your HVAC system, right, which means your
(13:22):
thermostat setting makes a big impact on your bill. So
each degree you can, you know, go up. In this case,
it could save you as much as three percent on
your power bill for every degree. So you know, if
you can, especially think about when you're going to be
gone from the home for a long time or maybe
you know just yeah, if you're on vacation, anything like that,
(13:43):
knock it down a few degrees or in this case
up with a few degrees. Yeah, and it really can.
That's gonna make a big difference on it.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So anytime you got if you go out of town
for half a day or something, just knock it up
a couple.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Of Absolutely, you're gonna be gone for you know, four
to six hours. Knock it up a few degrees. And
if you have a smart thermostats, so easy too. You
can you know, you can set parameters for that. You know,
you go to work every day from eight to five,
Well you can have it knock down at eight and
you can even have it come back up again later
if you need to.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I have a friend of mine who uses her phone
and she's left my heat up, put it heat down
at home. I might I didn't know that either.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I am. Well, I just got my I mean to,
I just got my first smart thermostat myself, okay a
month ago. And it is so cool you I mean again,
it can even like it can understand your family's patterns
and make a recommendation to you, which is so cool.
But yeah, there's a lot of great opportunities with smart thermostats,
and you can even do something like that. We like
(14:47):
to call pre cooling. So again, if the most energy
intensive part of the day is that late afternoon everybody's
getting home, Well, if you turn your HVAC on at
that moment to start cooling, you're really kind of using
a lot of energy at the hottest part of the day.
What if you could set yours pre cool an hour earlier,
so yours gets brings the temperature down a little bit more.
(15:10):
In that way, by the time the peak comes, you're
you're not making your age backwork as hard. So pre
cooling is a way you could do that too.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Next, you've got made in the shade. Yeah, you got
to keep your house has got to be a shade.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well, you know that's I think that's about creating your
own shade, right, keeping those curtains closed during the day,
you know, especially on the southwest or east sides of
your house. Another thing that people do and so wise,
is they plant trees. With that in mind, what part
of my house is most exposed in the summer sun,
(15:45):
Let's plant a shade tree that there, and that way
you're gonna help your bill. So I mean, you just
think about walking into the shade versus out of the shade.
On a sunny hot sunny day. It makes a big difference.
It makes a big difference for your home too.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, they're looking in here. I think about it. In here,
I've cut the shades down. We're in a conference room,
and it's made a big difference. Yeah. Yeah, that's really hot.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah. So yeah, let your let your house have the
same treatment, right.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Right, okay, and keep keep your cool in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah again, you know, that's menu planning ahead of time.
You want to make sure you're you're making meals that
require you know, uh, not the heat or the range
of the oven using that microwave. And the cool thing
about microwave too, it cooks faster and it doesn't create
nearly as much heat as the stovetop.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So I use mine a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah. Yeah, see those microwavable meals. You're doing something good.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Great, there's some good stuff. Just got to eat.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's an option.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
That's that's really there's amazing some of these things that
you and some of them, of course you don't think of.
I didn't think of some of the that's some of
the things I never knew.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, you know, I think that's one of the interesting
things about electricity is you you flip on the switch
and it works and you don't have to think about it,
and that's great. But I do think if you spend
just a little bit of time planning and you might
see lower energy bills. You might really appreciate thinking about
it ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Right, Well, now let's think about the energy, right and
you have various things that are available. Why is it
so important to get your HVAC system checked? And when
should you get that?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Chick? This is the time. This is the time, you know,
spring heading into the summer is the best time. You
want to get it tuned up for several reasons. First
is to improve efficiency, so that regular maintenance is going
to make sure that your HVAC system is operating at
peak efficiency and that's going to help lower energy bills
and reduce your energy consumption. And it's going to make
(17:45):
sure your home feels, you know, comfortable, and that the
HVAC system is doing what it's supposed to. That spring
tune up is going to allow your HVAC technician to
identify and address potential issues before they become big problems,
you know, and that can prevent costly repairs. I think
worst case scenario, and it happens to people every year.
(18:05):
They you get that first really hot day and you
turn on your air conditioning and it doesn't work. So
you want to prevent that, and getting that age FEC
tune up is going to help you out. The other
thing that we'll do is going to improve your air quality,
you know, and we're in prime allergy season is upon
us and so regular maintenance will make sure that you know,
(18:28):
they're cleaning and removing or replacing excuse me, air filters
and that's going to improve your air your indoor air
quality and remove pollen and those contaminants. So it's just
a way to be proactive take care of your system.
It's a very expensive system, so you want to take
care of it, and over time it really pays for itself.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You might even need a new one. I had that
before and I need a new one. It's just they said, look,
you can't fix this anymore. You got it a news
old it's the house is its twenty years old?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yes, and well, so the exciting thing is we've we've
got rebates, right, We've got rebates for that. So first
we've got rebates for the tune up. So I want
to make sure people know that homeowners get a fifty
dollars rebate if they use a number of TVA's Quality
Contractor network for that tune up. So you know, you
can just go to energywright dot com. You're going to
see the list of Quality Contractor network members. Filter writ
(19:19):
your zip code, you know, look for HVAC and you're
going to find a list of people that can serve
your area. And when you contact them, you just say, hey,
you know, I'd like to get a tune up or
I'm looking to get a tune up plan. I want
to participate in the TVA Energy Right program and get
the fifty dollars rebate, and then you're that that contractor
should know and they'll submit everything on your behalf and you.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Have to use your TVA's contractor.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
That's right. These are vetted, So these are licensed, vetted
contractors that you know, they're not TVA employees. They're all
you know, their own businesses, but they have been vetted
and trained on quality standards. And the idea is that
you know you're getting a good install from a quality technician.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Can't just use anybody, folks. That's right, neighbor over.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's right, that's right. But you get that fifty dollars
rebate that can really help offset you know, most of
the cost of a tune up, honestly. But then to
your point, let's say your system is on this last leg,
your your tune up reveils, you need to replace it.
We offer rebates up to three thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, yeah, yeah, we have recently increased some of our
HVACT rebates so that again I would recommend you check
it out. Check out the list of HVAC systems that
you can get a rebate for. And again you just
want to use a member of the quality contractor network.
Make sure you're getting an eligible system. And yeah, you
can get really great efficient systems at a discount. And
(20:49):
then we have rebates for other common energy efficiency projects.
So a lot of time an HVAC replacement might come
or might be best to come in tandem with duct ceiling. Right,
the duct system that connects to your HVAC. I'll tell
a story of of a dear colleague who also works
for TVA, who was just running really high bills this winter. Again,
(21:11):
she works for TVA Energy, right, Okay, she's not an
engineer by any means, but she works for it. She goes, oh,
my bills have just been so high. I don't know why.
It's a two bedroom, one bath town home. Why are
my bills so high? She said, I've got to get
a contractor out and I kept encouraging her. A call call.
She finally did the get out there. Her DUCKT system
was completely disconnected. She was just she was just paying
(21:33):
to send Aaron to her atticts. Yeah, I mean, and
surely enough, you know she got that fixed, She got
the duct ceiling of repair done and her bill was.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
A quarter of what it happened automatically.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh, a gigantic drop in her bill because she had this.
So I that's my warning to you. And also, if
you get a great HVAC system and you don't have
the quality duct ceiling, you might be spent a lot
of money to just send it up into your addicts.
So get so something to look into. We had we
have rebates available for that for DUCKT ceiling, air ceiling,
(22:06):
and attic insulation, which are all other really great energy
efficient steps you can take.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
They did the savings come right away or they come later,
they come at a rebate or something.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So you'll get the rebate as a check. It's a
check sent to you. Your contractor submits information to TVA.
You get an email that says, you know, please confirm
you know, and you click confirm and it gets mailed
to you. And I've participated in this program myself. You
get that check. It's great. But but then you have
the save the other savings. Which are so cool is
(22:37):
that you're going to see savings on your bill really
and you're going to see those right away. You know.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Well, and where should they go? Again?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Okay, you want to go to energy right dot com.
When you get there, it's going to say, you know,
are you here for your home? Are you here for
your business? Because we have things available for businesses as well.
You just go to the home and you're going to
see a wealth of resources.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Because I want to make sure everybody is clear on
that we choll do you go did this website first?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And get us not get somebody is you're an agent?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
He as a contractor from TVA Energy right dot com.
You can also check in with your local power company.
You know, they they are fantastic proponents of these programs.
They can help you out. But energy right dot com
is the easy place to find.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It right, energy right dot com. And we don't want
you to come come start yelling at us because we
told you the wrong thing. We didn'tain the wrong thing.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
That's right, find your money fine energy dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah. Uh, what else is going on, TVA? What are
you working on?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh man? You know, our region is growing so fast
and so you know, that's one of the reasons why
I love to come on shows like this and talk
about what we're doing for energy efficiency because we're trying
to stay ahead of the game as a company. We
you know, we provide affordable, reliable electricity for ten million
consumers and so you know, our regions GDP gross domestic
(24:02):
product has grown by two point nine percent, and our
unemployment rate is lower than national average, and you know,
it's just an attractive place to live. People are coming
to this area and so for us, it's all about,
you know, keeping up with that load growth. And so
we're right now, we're building. We have plans to build
(24:22):
fifty five hundred megawatts of new generation. That's a lot.
It's a lot of megawatts by twenty twenty nine. We're
also looking to add ten thousand megawatts of solar by
twenty thirty five, and we've got construction underway at five
different locations. We've you know, we just replaced or completed
(24:43):
some new gas units at the Paradise plant in Kentucky
and the Colbert plant in Alabama. So you know, again,
you know between the one point five billion with a
BEE that we are investing in energy efficiency and demand
management programs, we're also investing in new plants to serve
our region the best we can.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Well, you know, you look out now. We look at Nashville.
We're looking at Nashville now and it's just grown so much.
People just coming into here. You've got to keep going.
I can't show you do it.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's ideah, and to kind of watch and see where
the forecasts go and be prepared to serve people's needs.
I mean, it's it is a big and complicated job.
We have some really smart people that are just constantly
looking out ahead to anticipate and forecast what's going to
happen so we can continue to be the public power
(25:32):
entity we are.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Well, if you do some things like we said today
to lower your energy costs, then we got enough energy
for everybody that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And I'll say too, I mentioned businesses, and I would
remiss if I didn't just throw in a plug that
for businesses that are interested. Not only do we have
really generous energy efficiency incentives for businesses looking to make upgrades,
but we have other programs for them to participate in
where they can agree to shift their energy use two
(26:02):
different times of day and receive a financial credit. So
you know, folks might recall, oh, on the coldest days
of the year, TVA says, hey, if everybody could just
be conscientious about their energy use, well, one of the
first things we do is we contact those businesses and
we say, hey, you know that building you run all
night with the lights on that nobody's in. Can you
(26:24):
turn those lights off?
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Oh? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
So we work really closely with businesses too to try
to help them shift their energy use in a way
that makes sense for their business but also helps TVA
keep to your point, enough power for everybody and make
it affordable.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Is there a place for businesses can go to find
out about that energy?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Right dot energy website. As we try to make it easy,
you can come there you can learn about those programs.
Those are called demand response programs. You can learn about
the energy efficiency incentives again available for really common things,
led light replacements and you know, efficient commercial refrigeration equipment,
(27:05):
all kinds of stuff available. And yeah, we're just happy
to share the news.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
And let's go over the rebates one more time because
we won't be able to know about these rebates because
while they're available, you need to take advantage.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Of them, that's right. So we have up to three
thousand dollars available for some really common HVAC upgrades. We
also have rebates available for duct ceiling air ceiling attic insulation,
which for a limited time only is five hundred dollars
to the rest of through October, so it's a great
(27:36):
time to get attic insulation as well as for HVAC
tune ups. And the thing I always say, if you
don't know where to start, we have this really great tool.
We call it the DIY Home Energy Assessment. You can
go online take it. It takes all of five minutes
when I was taught. When I spoke with you last John,
we wanted people to take this thing. Well, we've learned
(27:58):
that it was maybe a bit too long and that
people got halfway through it and gave up We have
heard that feedback, so we have now changed that DIY
Home Energy Assessment. It's only sixteen questions now you can
do it in five minutes. And when you do that,
you're going to get a prioritized list of upgrades to
tailored to your home that you can go and tackle
(28:22):
to start saving money. And you're also going to get
a free energy saving kit mailed to your house. You're
going to get LED light bulbs in there, some other
great energy saving gadgets and a ten dollars Home Improvement
Store gift card. So you get that mailed for free
just for completing that DII Home Energy Assessment.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Is that also the same energy website.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Energywight dot com. That's where you're gonna find it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Dot com. So it's so easy, all right.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
There, we try, we're trying, but we're always open a
feedback or we're trying to make it easy.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And where can people go to find out about TVA
and what you do.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
You can go to TVA dot com. There's again a
wealth of information and about what TVA is doing and
how we're planning for the wonderful growth and economic development
in our region.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Well, thank you for coming in today. It's good to
see you again.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
It's so good to see you. Thank you for having me,
thank you for letting us share this information.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, we'll have you the next time when we're ready
to go up again for the winner. That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Good luck to us all making it through the summer.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Heat this right, summer heats. Thank you very much for
being on today. Thank you, thank you. That's essay England
Tennessee Valley Authorities energy savings expert. Remember, you can find
out more about the way to save energy at energy
right dot com. You can find out more about the
TVA at TVA dot com. Tennessee Valley Authority. For questions
or comments on today's program, you can email me, John
(29:41):
Clark at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk
to you next week right here on your local radio
station on Tennessee Matters
It's Tennessee Matters on the Tennessee Radio Network. Welcome to
Tennessee Matters. I'm John Clark on the Tennessee Radio Network.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is the government corporation created in
nineteen thirty three to improve navigation, control flooding, and promote
economic development for the Tennessee River Valley. Today, we have
(00:21):
Ashley England, TVA's energy saving expert here to tell us
how you can save money this summer. First of all,
where is TVA telled by? What TVA is?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
All? Right? Well, TVA stands for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
We're a federally owned corporation and we were created in
nineteen thirty three under FDR's New Deal, and we were
established really in this region because it was so hard
hit by poverty and TVA. We're now America's largest public
(00:51):
power provider and we serve ten million people across seven
states in the Southeast region. And not only do we
provide power, but we manage a system of dams and
reservoirs to help control flooding and improve navigation of the
Tennessee River. And we also focus on environmental suitorship stewardship
(01:12):
and economic development. So we kind of do a lot
of things.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, you do, you do a lot of it is
Tennessee primary, your primary area?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, so we serve almost all of Tennessee and it's
definitely where we have more customers based in Tennessee, but
we also serve you know, parts of Alabama, northern part
of Alabama, Mississippi, southern part of Kentucky, touch of Georgia, Virginia,
North Carolina. So but you're you're absolutely right, Tennessee is
our with a lot of folks in Tennessee. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, because you're based out of Nashville.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Guess right, Well, we're technically headquartered in Knoxville, Okay, Yeah,
but we have large offices in Chattanooga, Muscle Shoals, Alabama,
and then Nashville as well.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, and now with the seasons changing, well, first, well
let's talk about last last time we had you in here.
We talked about what to do for winter. How'd that go?
Did you get some take you up on the special offers?
You haead?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
We did? We did?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
We?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You know, we had a lot of folks take our
DIY Home Energy assessment, which was really exciting and great
a lot of people got their HVAC tune ups done,
which I'm going to talk about again today because it's
the season again. And yeah, you know, we we had
one of our we had our highest winter peak this year,
so we still have a lot of growth in the
(02:29):
area that we're seeing. But we really do think that
all the people kind of undertaking these energy management tips,
tricks and upgrades made a real difference.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Good, well, we'll keep doing it now. We've got that
for the summer now too.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
It's right, it's a different ball game.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
A different ball game. Boy. It came kind of early.
All of a sudden, it's getting hot, that's right.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
It felt you know that one of the southern I
thought we were going to have the what do they
call it, you know when you think it's going to
be hot and then it gets cold again. Ye, right,
but no, it might be here to stay.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
There, it's here to stay, I think this time. I've
got a sweater on today and I'm burning up. Yeah, well,
let's go over. Let's talk about some of the things
that a person can do as they're as they're burning up,
to do to do to get their heating builds. I mean,
they're not their heating bills, they're cooling bills. That's what
(03:22):
they need to do. Let's talk about that. Some things
to do. What are some things you need to do?
Just the things to.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Start with, you know, if you just you know, want
to save some energy around your house, and you know,
maybe you're not ready to make any big upgrades necessarily.
There's a few things. One is wait till the sun
goes down to run those major appliances. You know, you're
talking your dishwasher, your clothes washer, you're dryer, things like that.
(03:48):
Those appliances create heat themselves, and so it's gonna make
your house harder to cool itself because you're creating heat.
But then it's also a more expensive part of the
day to use electricity. So if you can wait until nighttime,
that's going to help your house stay cooler. It's going
to help your bild stay cooler too.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I didn't know that, and I've been running my stuff
during today. No no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And I'll say too. One of the cool sports a
lot of applients is now like my dishwasher, you you
can just do a delay, you know. And you a
lot of dryers now too. If you've bought a dry
in the last five years. Their delay options, so you
can say, hey, I want it to run in two hours,
so it's not like you have to get up, you
know and run it in the middle of the night
or anything.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, right, run in the middle of the
night and say, yeah, I didn't know this is this
is a good one for me. Already you started to
save me money. So so just run those.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Late yep, that's right. You know your air filter, I
will We'll mention it any season we can. You want
to make sure that your air conditioning filter is clean.
If the can if the filter has got built up
you know, dust, dand er hair, all that stuff, it's
going to mean that your h VAC unit's gonna have
to work harder to pull air through it. So your
h VAC unit's gonna have to work harder, might wear
(04:57):
out sooner. But it also means to air your breed
isn't going to be as clean. So make sure you
keep that filter. Change you know, we recommend just putting
it on an auto order once a month, have it
arrive at your house and that that'll trigger you to
change it out. And then I always say, you know,
listen to your mom shut the door. Oh really, yes, yes, yes,
(05:19):
she was right. Of course, mother's always right. As a
mother myself, mother is always right. But you want to
keep that cool air in. Minimize the times you can
open and shut the door, especially you know, leading outside.
And the same goes for the fridge door. So if
you catch somebody standing there scratching their head trying to
figure out what they want to have to eat, so
(05:39):
could you please close the door and think about it,
because I.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Just want to say, who would leave the refrigerator door over?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Oh? Oh you got it? I know a teenager or two.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh okay, okay, so you keep those doors. Just shut
the door quickly, that's right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
That's right. Just try to minimize it. You know, a
lot of in and out that's gonna be again, it's
gonna take all that nice cool air and it's going
to send it out the door.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Do a fan dance? What is that about? Do a
fan dance?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Explain right, So, ceiling and floor fans can be really
effective to keep air moving in your home. And so
you know, yeah, if you're if you're going to another room,
you got a floor fan, move it in there. You
turn it on. The ceiling fan whatever room you're in.
I just like to remind people turn it off when
you're not in the room. Fans cool with people, not rooms.
(06:28):
They don't do anything for the room. The way the
fan works, you have to have a person there to feel,
you know, if a if a tree falls in the
wood and there's no one there to hear it. The
fans the same way.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So keep it there. Again, I didn't know that. I
thought you keep it going all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
No, some people are like, oh, it just keeps the
air circulating and fresh. No, you know, the way the
fan works is essentially it's the moisture on your skin
when the cool air hits that that's what's keeping you cool.
But if you're not in the room, can't benefit from it.
So yeah, that's right, and honestly too. The other thing
to remember is that fans you use a lot less
power than like turning your air conditioner lower. So if
(07:05):
you can manage to avoid setting your air conditioner a
few degrees lower and just use fans instead, you're gonna
help yourself out.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
So if you use the fans that don't use the
air conditioning.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
That's right. Yeah, you know, we're just you know, so hot,
I'm gonna set the air conditioner down even lower, turn
on the fans first. See if that does the trick.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Do you do you still need to turn them off
when you go out the room. Yes, okay, okay, that's right. Okay,
well turn it off when the room. I didn't I
did not know that. Two things I did not know.
I didn't know that about the fans. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I think another one too is, you know, using shades, curtains,
things like that, especially during the heat of the day,
that can help. And then I'd like to think too,
a lot of the times, the hottest part of the
day is when everybody gets home. You know, the heat's
been building up all day and then everybody gets home,
(07:56):
they want to start prepping meals and doing homework and
watching TV. And so try to plan meals that don't
require to use your oven. I think that's a really
great way because to save energy and to keep the
house cool, that oven range and the stovetop and the
range they're gonna produce produce a lot of heat, right,
(08:17):
so it's gonna make your HVAC have to work harder,
and they use electricity often. I know some some people
have gas ranges and whatnot. But again it's still gonna
make a lot of heat in the room itself. So
try to play in microwave meals or even instant pot
or air fryers. Those are great and a lot less
(08:38):
energy intensive and they don't put off as much ambient heat.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Is it good to unplugged unplugged power down? You've got
on here? But is that Let me ask you this,
when you're not using your coffee maker or you're a
toaster or something like that, is it good to unplugged that?
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yes? Really it's yes. A lot of people don't realize,
but a lot of those small electronics appliances they can
drop power even when they're not on. So yeah, they
we call that vampire power, vampire load. And again it's
because it's sucking the power out of your house. You
don't even realize. Even phone chargers really, yes, a charger
that's plugged in, even if there's not a phone charging on,
(09:15):
it does draw a little bit of power. So that's
just yeah, she can add up.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
That is astonishing to think of that. You don't think
of that. But like these powered cords here now are
unplug them? We lead tonight and.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
You saved that much in And that's one of the
reasons I love a power strip. Honestly, if you can
put in a power strip, you put it all all
those things like that kind of try to put them
on a similar power strip and you just press the button.
You don't have to worry about, you know, going and
plugging back in and then plugging all that good stuff.
So power strips are great for that.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
Send your old appliance is packing.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Oh yes, if you have an old fridge, which a
lot of people do, they get their new fridge, they
move the old fridge out to the garage and they, oh,
maybe I'll use it for you know, spillover if I
have a big costco order or something like that. But honestly,
those old appliances are often the least efficient thing in
(10:07):
your house, and if you can recycle it, you can
really save yourself a lot of energy. You know, I
would never take away somebody's you know, beer fridge or
something right, right, but they really do. And especially if
you have it, say in a garage, which is an
unconditioned space, it really is gonna it's it's working hard.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So really so when you move it out to a garage,
it can use more power that way.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well, you know, again it depends on how much heat
you know, the fridge is putting off, that sort of thing.
But yeah, it's I would say anytime you can recycle
an old appliance rather than plugging it in, just in case,
you're gonna be better off.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I know people that use they're still really old. I
mean they just lugging along to keep beer cool or
sodas or whatever. And it's just for that, and it's
really out in the garage, chug chugging along. It's been
there for twenty years.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, and gosh, I mean if you if they only
knew how much energy, you might be better off getting yourself
like a little mini.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
For yeah you really yeah, yeah, I didn't know. I
didn't realize that. Oh well, so send your older parent
is packing how how old? I mean, if you haven't
your house, it's within the last couple of years, two
or three years, it's okay, Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, I mean I would say, if your fridge is
getting up there fifteen twenty years old, there's probably much
more efficient yeah options out there, and those less efficient
options might be burning up a lot more energy than
you realize. Okay, all right, all right, another one too.
That I think about when I think of my kitchen too,
is the grill, you know, getting outside using your gas,
(11:44):
your charcoal grill rather than using your indoor appliances. You know,
this is the time, this is the grill master season,
So get out there and savior oven, the wear and tear.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, everybody's that once the grill out anyway, that's.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Right, Yeah, that's right. It's great, super super effective for
lowering your energy.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So having a grill, having agree obviously using whatever else
it's besides, you're in your house, it is better. But yeah,
well you can also cook other things on there too,
to cook everything on that.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You sure can. I mean you can again plant meal
planning can be great for so many reasons. I mean,
you know, I try. We try to think about it
in our house. Okay, well we could use the air
fire for this the sides, and we use the grill
for the main or whatnot, and and then everybody's a
little bit happier by the time you get to dinner.
You know, you're not sweating as you sleep over a
hot stove.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah. I guess a lot of people just have to
get home from work. They work all day, they get
home from work. They just want to do it in
a hurry, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, well it's true, but I mean again, the air
fryer if you want, if you're in a hurry, that's
the appliance for you. The air fryer. Great. Oh it's
so fast.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, it's very it's very good. Huh, go and get
an air fryer. Now, a slightly warmer house equals less
scizual on your budget.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, all right, well, well the best natural this is
the controversial one, right, And then it's your thermostat setting.
And what we'd recommend is that you just you set
your thermostat as high as you feel comfortable during the day. Honestly,
it makes the biggest difference. The biggest energy user in
your home is your HVAC system, right, which means your
(13:22):
thermostat setting makes a big impact on your bill. So
each degree you can, you know, go up. In this case,
it could save you as much as three percent on
your power bill for every degree. So you know, if
you can, especially think about when you're going to be
gone from the home for a long time or maybe
you know just yeah, if you're on vacation, anything like that,
(13:43):
knock it down a few degrees or in this case
up with a few degrees. Yeah, and it really can.
That's gonna make a big difference on it.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So anytime you got if you go out of town
for half a day or something, just knock it up
a couple.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Of Absolutely, you're gonna be gone for you know, four
to six hours. Knock it up a few degrees. And
if you have a smart thermostats, so easy too. You
can you know, you can set parameters for that. You know,
you go to work every day from eight to five,
Well you can have it knock down at eight and
you can even have it come back up again later
if you need to.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I have a friend of mine who uses her phone
and she's left my heat up, put it heat down
at home. I might I didn't know that either.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I am. Well, I just got my I mean to,
I just got my first smart thermostat myself, okay a
month ago. And it is so cool you I mean again,
it can even like it can understand your family's patterns
and make a recommendation to you, which is so cool.
But yeah, there's a lot of great opportunities with smart thermostats,
and you can even do something like that. We like
(14:47):
to call pre cooling. So again, if the most energy
intensive part of the day is that late afternoon everybody's
getting home, Well, if you turn your HVAC on at
that moment to start cooling, you're really kind of using
a lot of energy at the hottest part of the day.
What if you could set yours pre cool an hour earlier,
so yours gets brings the temperature down a little bit more.
(15:10):
In that way, by the time the peak comes, you're
you're not making your age backwork as hard. So pre
cooling is a way you could do that too.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Next, you've got made in the shade. Yeah, you got
to keep your house has got to be a shade.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Well, you know that's I think that's about creating your
own shade, right, keeping those curtains closed during the day,
you know, especially on the southwest or east sides of
your house. Another thing that people do and so wise,
is they plant trees. With that in mind, what part
of my house is most exposed in the summer sun,
(15:45):
Let's plant a shade tree that there, and that way
you're gonna help your bill. So I mean, you just
think about walking into the shade versus out of the shade.
On a sunny hot sunny day. It makes a big difference.
It makes a big difference for your home too.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, they're looking in here. I think about it. In here,
I've cut the shades down. We're in a conference room,
and it's made a big difference. Yeah. Yeah, that's really hot.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yeah. So yeah, let your let your house have the
same treatment, right.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Right, okay, and keep keep your cool in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah again, you know, that's menu planning ahead of time.
You want to make sure you're you're making meals that
require you know, uh, not the heat or the range
of the oven using that microwave. And the cool thing
about microwave too, it cooks faster and it doesn't create
nearly as much heat as the stovetop.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So I use mine a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah. Yeah, see those microwavable meals. You're doing something good.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Great, there's some good stuff. Just got to eat.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's an option.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
That's that's really there's amazing some of these things that
you and some of them, of course you don't think of.
I didn't think of some of the that's some of
the things I never knew.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, you know, I think that's one of the interesting
things about electricity is you you flip on the switch
and it works and you don't have to think about it,
and that's great. But I do think if you spend
just a little bit of time planning and you might
see lower energy bills. You might really appreciate thinking about
it ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Right, Well, now let's think about the energy, right and
you have various things that are available. Why is it
so important to get your HVAC system checked? And when
should you get that?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Chick? This is the time. This is the time, you know,
spring heading into the summer is the best time. You
want to get it tuned up for several reasons. First
is to improve efficiency, so that regular maintenance is going
to make sure that your HVAC system is operating at
peak efficiency and that's going to help lower energy bills
and reduce your energy consumption. And it's going to make
(17:45):
sure your home feels, you know, comfortable, and that the
HVAC system is doing what it's supposed to. That spring
tune up is going to allow your HVAC technician to
identify and address potential issues before they become big problems,
you know, and that can prevent costly repairs. I think
worst case scenario, and it happens to people every year.
(18:05):
They you get that first really hot day and you
turn on your air conditioning and it doesn't work. So
you want to prevent that, and getting that age FEC
tune up is going to help you out. The other
thing that we'll do is going to improve your air quality,
you know, and we're in prime allergy season is upon
us and so regular maintenance will make sure that you know,
(18:28):
they're cleaning and removing or replacing excuse me, air filters
and that's going to improve your air your indoor air
quality and remove pollen and those contaminants. So it's just
a way to be proactive take care of your system.
It's a very expensive system, so you want to take
care of it, and over time it really pays for itself.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
You might even need a new one. I had that
before and I need a new one. It's just they said, look,
you can't fix this anymore. You got it a news
old it's the house is its twenty years old?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yes, and well, so the exciting thing is we've we've
got rebates, right, We've got rebates for that. So first
we've got rebates for the tune up. So I want
to make sure people know that homeowners get a fifty
dollars rebate if they use a number of TVA's Quality
Contractor network for that tune up. So you know, you
can just go to energywright dot com. You're going to
see the list of Quality Contractor network members. Filter writ
(19:19):
your zip code, you know, look for HVAC and you're
going to find a list of people that can serve
your area. And when you contact them, you just say, hey,
you know, I'd like to get a tune up or
I'm looking to get a tune up plan. I want
to participate in the TVA Energy Right program and get
the fifty dollars rebate, and then you're that that contractor
should know and they'll submit everything on your behalf and you.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Have to use your TVA's contractor.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
That's right. These are vetted, So these are licensed, vetted
contractors that you know, they're not TVA employees. They're all
you know, their own businesses, but they have been vetted
and trained on quality standards. And the idea is that
you know you're getting a good install from a quality technician.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Can't just use anybody, folks. That's right, neighbor over.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's right, that's right. But you get that fifty dollars
rebate that can really help offset you know, most of
the cost of a tune up, honestly. But then to
your point, let's say your system is on this last leg,
your your tune up reveils, you need to replace it.
We offer rebates up to three thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, yeah, yeah, we have recently increased some of our
HVACT rebates so that again I would recommend you check
it out. Check out the list of HVAC systems that
you can get a rebate for. And again you just
want to use a member of the quality contractor network.
Make sure you're getting an eligible system. And yeah, you
can get really great efficient systems at a discount. And
(20:49):
then we have rebates for other common energy efficiency projects.
So a lot of time an HVAC replacement might come
or might be best to come in tandem with duct ceiling. Right,
the duct system that connects to your HVAC. I'll tell
a story of of a dear colleague who also works
for TVA, who was just running really high bills this winter. Again,
(21:11):
she works for TVA Energy, right, Okay, she's not an
engineer by any means, but she works for it. She goes, oh,
my bills have just been so high. I don't know why.
It's a two bedroom, one bath town home. Why are
my bills so high? She said, I've got to get
a contractor out and I kept encouraging her. A call call.
She finally did the get out there. Her DUCKT system
was completely disconnected. She was just she was just paying
(21:33):
to send Aaron to her atticts. Yeah, I mean, and
surely enough, you know she got that fixed, She got
the duct ceiling of repair done and her bill was.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
A quarter of what it happened automatically.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh, a gigantic drop in her bill because she had this.
So I that's my warning to you. And also, if
you get a great HVAC system and you don't have
the quality duct ceiling, you might be spent a lot
of money to just send it up into your addicts.
So get so something to look into. We had we
have rebates available for that for DUCKT ceiling, air ceiling,
(22:06):
and attic insulation, which are all other really great energy
efficient steps you can take.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
They did the savings come right away or they come later,
they come at a rebate or something.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
So you'll get the rebate as a check. It's a
check sent to you. Your contractor submits information to TVA.
You get an email that says, you know, please confirm
you know, and you click confirm and it gets mailed
to you. And I've participated in this program myself. You
get that check. It's great. But but then you have
the save the other savings. Which are so cool is
(22:37):
that you're going to see savings on your bill really
and you're going to see those right away. You know.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Well, and where should they go? Again?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Okay, you want to go to energy right dot com.
When you get there, it's going to say, you know,
are you here for your home? Are you here for
your business? Because we have things available for businesses as well.
You just go to the home and you're going to
see a wealth of resources.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Because I want to make sure everybody is clear on
that we choll do you go did this website first?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
That's right?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And get us not get somebody is you're an agent?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
He as a contractor from TVA Energy right dot com.
You can also check in with your local power company.
You know, they they are fantastic proponents of these programs.
They can help you out. But energy right dot com
is the easy place to find.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It right, energy right dot com. And we don't want
you to come come start yelling at us because we
told you the wrong thing. We didn'tain the wrong thing.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
That's right, find your money fine energy dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah. Uh, what else is going on, TVA? What are
you working on?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh man? You know, our region is growing so fast
and so you know, that's one of the reasons why
I love to come on shows like this and talk
about what we're doing for energy efficiency because we're trying
to stay ahead of the game as a company. We
you know, we provide affordable, reliable electricity for ten million
consumers and so you know, our regions GDP gross domestic
(24:02):
product has grown by two point nine percent, and our
unemployment rate is lower than national average, and you know,
it's just an attractive place to live. People are coming
to this area and so for us, it's all about,
you know, keeping up with that load growth. And so
we're right now, we're building. We have plans to build
(24:22):
fifty five hundred megawatts of new generation. That's a lot.
It's a lot of megawatts by twenty twenty nine. We're
also looking to add ten thousand megawatts of solar by
twenty thirty five, and we've got construction underway at five
different locations. We've you know, we just replaced or completed
(24:43):
some new gas units at the Paradise plant in Kentucky
and the Colbert plant in Alabama. So you know, again,
you know between the one point five billion with a
BEE that we are investing in energy efficiency and demand
management programs, we're also investing in new plants to serve
our region the best we can.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Well, you know, you look out now. We look at Nashville.
We're looking at Nashville now and it's just grown so much.
People just coming into here. You've got to keep going.
I can't show you do it.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
It's ideah, and to kind of watch and see where
the forecasts go and be prepared to serve people's needs.
I mean, it's it is a big and complicated job.
We have some really smart people that are just constantly
looking out ahead to anticipate and forecast what's going to
happen so we can continue to be the public power
(25:32):
entity we are.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Well, if you do some things like we said today
to lower your energy costs, then we got enough energy
for everybody that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And I'll say too, I mentioned businesses, and I would
remiss if I didn't just throw in a plug that
for businesses that are interested. Not only do we have
really generous energy efficiency incentives for businesses looking to make upgrades,
but we have other programs for them to participate in
where they can agree to shift their energy use two
(26:02):
different times of day and receive a financial credit. So
you know, folks might recall, oh, on the coldest days
of the year, TVA says, hey, if everybody could just
be conscientious about their energy use, well, one of the
first things we do is we contact those businesses and
we say, hey, you know that building you run all
night with the lights on that nobody's in. Can you
(26:24):
turn those lights off?
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Oh? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
So we work really closely with businesses too to try
to help them shift their energy use in a way
that makes sense for their business but also helps TVA
keep to your point, enough power for everybody and make
it affordable.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Is there a place for businesses can go to find
out about that energy?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Right dot energy website. As we try to make it easy,
you can come there you can learn about those programs.
Those are called demand response programs. You can learn about
the energy efficiency incentives again available for really common things,
led light replacements and you know, efficient commercial refrigeration equipment,
(27:05):
all kinds of stuff available. And yeah, we're just happy
to share the news.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
And let's go over the rebates one more time because
we won't be able to know about these rebates because
while they're available, you need to take advantage.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Of them, that's right. So we have up to three
thousand dollars available for some really common HVAC upgrades. We
also have rebates available for duct ceiling air ceiling attic insulation,
which for a limited time only is five hundred dollars
to the rest of through October, so it's a great
(27:36):
time to get attic insulation as well as for HVAC
tune ups. And the thing I always say, if you
don't know where to start, we have this really great tool.
We call it the DIY Home Energy Assessment. You can
go online take it. It takes all of five minutes
when I was taught. When I spoke with you last John,
we wanted people to take this thing. Well, we've learned
(27:58):
that it was maybe a bit too long and that
people got halfway through it and gave up We have
heard that feedback, so we have now changed that DIY
Home Energy Assessment. It's only sixteen questions now you can
do it in five minutes. And when you do that,
you're going to get a prioritized list of upgrades to
tailored to your home that you can go and tackle
(28:22):
to start saving money. And you're also going to get
a free energy saving kit mailed to your house. You're
going to get LED light bulbs in there, some other
great energy saving gadgets and a ten dollars Home Improvement
Store gift card. So you get that mailed for free
just for completing that DII Home Energy Assessment.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Is that also the same energy website.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Energywight dot com. That's where you're gonna find it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Dot com. So it's so easy, all right.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
There, we try, we're trying, but we're always open a
feedback or we're trying to make it easy.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
And where can people go to find out about TVA
and what you do.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
You can go to TVA dot com. There's again a
wealth of information and about what TVA is doing and
how we're planning for the wonderful growth and economic development
in our region.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Well, thank you for coming in today. It's good to
see you again.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
It's so good to see you. Thank you for having me,
thank you for letting us share this information.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, we'll have you the next time when we're ready
to go up again for the winner. That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Good luck to us all making it through the summer.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Heat this right, summer heats. Thank you very much for
being on today. Thank you, thank you. That's essay England
Tennessee Valley Authorities energy savings expert. Remember, you can find
out more about the way to save energy at energy
right dot com. You can find out more about the
TVA at TVA dot com. Tennessee Valley Authority. For questions
or comments on today's program, you can email me, John
(29:41):
Clark at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk
to you next week right here on your local radio
station on Tennessee Matters
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