October 13, 2025 • 30 mins
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created to improve life in the Tennessee Valley region by providing electricity, managing natural resources, and supporting economic development. It builds and operates power plants, helps control flooding, and protects the environment. TVA also works to make energy affordable and reliable for homes and businesses across the region. On this episode, TVA's energy savings expert Ashley England joins our host John Clark to talk about ways to reduce your utility bills this winter.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Tennessee Matters on the Tennessee Radio Network. Welcome to
Tennessee Matters. I'm John Clark and the Tennessee Radio Network.
The Tennessee Valley Authority or TVA serves more than ten
million people across seven states with affordable, reliable, and resilient energy.
(00:22):
They also help you save money on your energy bills.
And here to talk about that for the winter months
is Ashley England TVA's energy savings expert. Actually England TVA
energy savings expert here. We are again, so great to
be here with you. It's great to be here with
you too. We talked last time we were here, we
(00:45):
talked about the summer months because it was heating up.
But now it's going to be cooling down. So we're
going to talk about what you need to do. But
first of all, Tennis, what TVA is.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, So, the Tennessee Valley Authority provides a lotlectricity for
one hundred and fifty three local power companies serving about
ten million people within seven states here in the Southeast.
And we also have about sixty large industrial customers and
federal installations.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I think some of the important things to.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Know are we don't get any taxpayer funding. Our revenues
come from the sales of electricity, but we also provide
flood control, navigation, and land management for the Tennessee River System,
and we love to assist local power companies and regional
governments with economic development. So, you know, we are public
(01:41):
power and we're in a really unique position.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
We think it's a really great model because everything.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
We do is just tied to the best interests of
the people that we serve, and we're not looking to
make a profit.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I think it's interesting you guys tie in with
President Roosevelt. You basically yeah, that's dialectly.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Oh yeah, I mean, if you're a history buff, you
know the TVA definitely you remember that we were We
were created in nineteen thirty three and created.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
From an Act of Congress, so a long legacy of
serving the people and really bringing electricity to parts of
the United States that other electric providers wouldn't serve.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Said there's no money to be made there, we're not
going in, and the government said, well we really, these
folks are really struggling.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
We got to bring electricity. So we're really proud of
that legacy.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, we hear so much when you talk about what
you do, and we hear so much how you have
to keep going because there's more people coming to Tennessee
and you guys have to keep finding new ways to
generate energy and to save energy.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh yeah, I mean that our area is growing rapidly
faster than the rest of the country and so and
in part of that too, is that a lot of
buildings are starting to electrify more than replacing you know,
natural gas appliances and processes with electrical processes. And of
(03:12):
course you know, if you've read the news in the
last two years, you've probably read about data centers and
AI and those things.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Do they consume a lot of electricity.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So yes, we are constantly innovating and figuring out how to.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Build to meet the need.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, one of the ways you get people to save
money by saving all electricity. Let's talk about that. What
are some ways they're do it for the winter months
coming up? They have especially it may get cold. So
what can people do to keep their home warm in
the winter months?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, you know, the breeze, the crisps in the air.
We know it's coming. And so here's some really easy
actions you can take to save on energy. First, take
advantage of those sunny days when it's out there, open
your curtains, let the natural sunlight warm your home, and
you want to then.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Go ahead and close them at night. That's gonna provide
an extra layer of insulation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And some people like to purchase thicker curtains. You can
often see them they're called thermal curtains in the winter,
and that can help keep the cold air out, and
you might consider purchasing some of those.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Another thing is to.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Make sure that your heating vents are open and that
they're not blocked by furniture or rugs.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
A lot of people we go into homes, we perform
home energy evaluations.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
For folks, and we see a lot of folks you know, oh,
well I thought it was okay, I just put my
dresser over here, or that was the best place for
the TV. And you find your blocking your heating met
and that's probably why your room's really cool. Probably that's
then that you know, folks think what it moves around it, Well, no,
(04:57):
it's gonna work harder.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
So and don't close the vents in rooms. Some folks think,
oh if.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I close the vent in the room, I don't use
as much my hvact won't work as hard, but that's
a myth. Your hvact is sized to accommodate all the
rooms in your house, and so the system's going to
generate the same amount of hot air no matter how
many events are open.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And your system might actually overwork to try to like
push air in new places. So and then that can
make your energy bill goes up.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Bills go up, So make sure your vents are open
and up locked. And then the final one that I
always liked your mind people, and I got to get
myself in my winter habits is to set your ceiling
fans to run clockwise in the winter. Really, yes, most
people don't realize that their fans even have a switch
(05:47):
on them, but you know it's up off the base
of the fan.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
If you get closed, get up on your ladder there
and take a look. Switch it. Make sure it's running clockwise.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
That's going to help spread that warm air out in
your room.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So it's opposite of what you do in the summer.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, you put you push the warm air down, and
yeah it kind of helps spread that warm area or
HVAX creating.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So but but please turn it off. When you're not
in the room.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Fans warm people, fans cool people.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
They don't cool.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Or warm rooms.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
They don't do anything for the room if you're not
a See.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I can't get that. I can't grasp that. It's so weird.
I lean mine running.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So you know those air circulation, Yeah, it does move
the air around, but you're not in their does you.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Don't feel it? I feel that that's true. What about
space heaters and things like that, you know, would.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Really caution people to be very careful about space heaters.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
You know, they might be a great choice if you
have a really.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Small space or specialized area that you're trying to keep warm,
but they can be dangerous first off, and secondly, they're
not made to do whole home heating. And if you
try to run multiple space heaters or you expect you're
gonna actually spend.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
A lot more money, you're better off just running your
h vacs.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
You always hear said, you always hear fires around them.
They start, they turn over and start a fire, and
it's terrible.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know you want to make sure
you have a newer space heater.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
There are some safety mechanisms they've built into them now
but you know, we recommend people don't leave them running
overnight when you're asleep. All those kinds of things you
can really lead to tragedy.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah you can't. Well, right now you have some special
incentives online when you can go and look on the website.
What is the website again.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah, it's energy right dot com. We've got amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Rebates right now for h FACT systems, which, of course.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
This time of year, you know you go to turn on,
you turn on the heater for the first time. Maybe
it has a little funky smell, maybe because.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's right, but if worse, if it's worse than that,
it doesn't come on at all, or maybe it starts smoking,
you know, some weird stuff and you need to replace it.
We have we have incentives for replacing your h back
up to fifteen hundred dollars to help offset the cost
of energy efficient HVAC systems. We also have rebates available
(08:41):
for some of those really great what we call weatherization upgrades.
Those are things like air ceiling, duckt ceiling, attic insulation
that's going to really keep all the nice warm air
your HVAC is producing inside your home, make sure it's
not co out leaks and cracks. A lot of people
(09:02):
don't realize that they you know, you can lose a
lot of conditioned air through small holes in your home.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
So getting it air sealed, duct sealed and.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Your attic insulation is a great way to save money
and energy.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I guess you don't think about that, but that really does.
You lose a lot of energy that way in an
older house too.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Absolutely, And one of my favorites, honestly is attic insulation.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I'm always like, don't sleep on attic insulation.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
It doesn't sound as a sexy maybe, but it's great.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It's like a warm blanket for your home. It keeps
that warm air in where you want it to be.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And we have right now five hundred dollars rebate for
attic insulation help offset the cost of that.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
So this is good. But a long time she's been up.
You're an addict. Just scope you're adding and take a look.
You see.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, absolutely, And even if you maybe had you know,
decent attic insulation fifteen twenty years ago, can start to.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Wear and kind of lose its after a while. So
and you know, if you're not sure, you're not sure,
do I need new attic installation.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
We offer this really amazing DIY home Energy assessment.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
You can it'll kind of guide you through all the
places of you're.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Home and it'll tell you what to look for and
that can help you assess whether you might need to
replace your attic installation.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Now, the contractors you use are already approved by you guys, right,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, their license, they're trained and vetted, you know, and
we make sure they go through training on energy efficiency
standards because we want to make sure you're getting a
great job. So you know, sometimes people can be maybe
less than ethical. They'll say, yeah, your home is fine,
(10:52):
and we don't want them doing that.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
We want to make sure you're getting them great and
you have to use those to get the rebased I
want everybody to know that you have to use their
contractors to get the rebates. That's right.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
We called the Quality Contractor Network. We've actually grown that
network in the last year. We tried to get more contractors.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Just to make sure that you know, the chances that
you're going to find a contractor you love on that
list is really high. But yeah, you can again you
find those that are website. You just entering your zip code.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You're going to see who serves your area, find a
contractor on that list, contact them and you know, if
you say, hey, I'm interested in this and i'd like
to get one of the TVA rebates, they'll say okay,
and they'll do the work for you.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
You know, they'll submit the application and you just get
checking the mail.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Oh good, all right, So make sure you go to
the website and look up the contractor. Don't just call Well,
I know my cousin does it. This guy, he's not
going to get it. He's not going to get a savings.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
But if your cousin's a great contractor told them to
call us and join.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The network, that's right, that's that easy. Yeah, I just
want to I say, everybody knows X because somebody who
call them members.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yeah, it's true. People all you know, I get it.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
People have folks that they've known for a while. Maybe
they use and oh why can't I get the rebate?
And again it's we provide that network because we want
to make sure that you're getting.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
A quality installation and that you're you have peace of mind.
That's why we do it.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Now, if they need a whole new HVAC system, you
have some incentive.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Available for that too, right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
We've gotten centives available for different kinds of HVAC systems,
so you know, whether you need a mini split or
a heat.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Pump or a central air conditioner.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
We've got repaates available for efficient units and up to
fifteen hundred dollars. I mean, it's really can help offset
the cost a lot of upgrading from you know, maybe
a base model to a slightly more efficient model.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I should ask you to what what if somebody's going
to do it themselves? I mean, what if they're happen
to do that, but they're they're whether they're contractor or
not a contract they happen to know how to do
this stuff. Can they get the rebate? Should they go
on your How does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Right now? We do not offer d I you know,
do yourself installation rebates. It's something we've been considering.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
We're looking into it, but right now you have to
use a number of the quality contractor network in order
to qualify for a rebate.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Okay, so let's go with that again. You can get
what now to have it inspected, get it, do something
for that.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yep. So if you so, a couple of options if
you want to get a tune up first.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Okay, that's a great option, and I really recommend that
to folks every.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Year or twice a year. Go ahead, get.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Your system tuned up before the winter weather really hits.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
That professional who's going to come in, the HVAC professional.
They're gonna look at your system. They're gonna make sure
that your air filters have been replaced.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
They're gonna do an inspection of your condenser and your
evaporator coils and compressor and refrigerant, charge all those systems
and make sure that your HVAC.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Is prepared for the winter weather.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
We first off, we give a fifty dollars roomate for that,
and that doesn't typically cost very much, but you know,
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right,
you catch it early before it gets bad. So that's
one way, and we do recommend you go ahead and
have a contractor come out and do that. Then, if
(14:44):
you're not sure what you need, maybe you think your
HVAC system has been replaced somewhat recently, or it seems
like it's in fine working condition, but maybe your bills
have been higher lately.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
You're just not sure. You just want to make your
home as comfortable as possible. For two options, we have
a DIY home energy assessment.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Again, you just go online. You know, you can take
it on your phone. It's gonna ask you questions, you
walk around your house. It takes all of ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's a great option to kind of just figure it
out for yourself. If maybe you're not as tech savvy, maybe.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
You don't want to go into your attic, you don't
want to look in your cross space, which I understand.
Then we also offer home energy evaluations where a professional
can come in do a full top to bottom inspection
of your home and tell you and give you a tailored,
you know, recommended list of ways you can save around
your home. And then they can also kind of explain
(15:45):
to you the rebate process if you have any questions
at that point.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And that's free.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, and you should get it done now
instead of waiting to your freezing to death. Oh my gosh,
what are we going to do. We're gonna win a
storm coming.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Absolutely, it's hard to do things like this too, but
I do remind folks like you.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Want to get your system looked at now before it
is freezing cold. Because you better believe that when it
gets fridgid out, those contractors.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Are busy, busy, busy, busy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I know.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Yeah, it's hard to get them to come out. And
you don't want to be sitting there in the freezing cold,
you know, on.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
A holiday with family in town or something like that.
So go ahead, bite the bullet, do it early, get
it done, and then you.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Can feel safe.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Now you don't want to go out and you're freezing
to death and you go buy a space heater and
then it turns over to kid's house on fire. You
don't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
You don't want to do that. Yeah, that's a good.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Point that happens sometimes. Just why we're news We know
about these things. Well, TVA sells energy, so why are
you encouraging people to be more energy conscious?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Well, you know, we get this question, and I get it,
but I think it's important to.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Know that when we can lower demand for energy, especially
at those peak times, those you know, the early winter
mornings when it's frigid and everybody's starting to use their
HVAC and all they're making breakfast in the ovens on
all that stuff, or even you know.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
In the evening you're preparing to those peak times.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It can help TVA save on operational costs and reduces
our need to invest in really expensive infrastructure.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
To meet those occasional peak needs.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So rather than let's build power plants that we're only
going to use ten times a year for peak needs,
it's a lot better when we can just get folks
to use a little less energy at those peak times,
and then those costs savings get passed along to our customers. Right.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That means lower rates.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
That means that you know, you're not having to spend
as much money either on your energy bills.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
It's not just for us, it's it's for the folks
that we serve. We want them to be able to
save on their energy bills.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Because you're getting so many people coming into state down
and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. You really
have to pay attention to that your energy. You have
to I mean generating the energy.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, are the folks that work in our you know,
are forecasting group that are trying to read the tea
leaves and look ahead and understand what's coming into our
area and how much power.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
They They have a really hard job, you know, but yeah,
You're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
There are so many people coming and when when we
can reduce If everybody can kind of reduce their energy
usage by just a.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Little bit, it leaves room for new folks to come.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
And for us, that means new jobs, That means new
company that can set up shop here in our region,
and that makes quality of.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Life better for everyone. So we're building, don't get me wrong.
You know, we are building a lot of infrastructure to
meet the need. But this is another thing that we
can do to help meet that need. And we're actually investing.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
TVA is one point five billion dollars in programs.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Like this over the next three four years.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Wow. So you have people that get in rooms that
we're in now and they figure these things out. That's
their job.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah, you know, I'm a talker. They're the they're the thinker,
they're the math people. So I greatly appreciate them.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And yeah, we're just trying to make life better for
the ten million people we serve, and we appreciate, you know,
everything that folks do to help us do that.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, you really do. I mean I think in Tennessee
it's growing so much. I can't imagine the the meetings
you have about that, but you do have to have
those meanings.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know we're also we are not
only trying to keep rates as low as feasible, but
we're also trying to encourage the economic development and we're
trying to be good stewards of the resources and trusted
to us.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
So you know, we have to consider all those things
where we're making decisions.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah. You know, we didn't talk about water heaters. That's
one thing you need to change too. That's one thing
that can really cost a lot of money is if
you run the water. But if you have a water
heater that's not efficient, Yes, and a lot of people
don't have them that they are efficient, they're still they last,
they chug along, They chug along, so they tear up
(20:48):
when you sell the house.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
And you know, one of the things we recommend folks
look into is heat pump water heaters. They can have
really great efficiency ratings and save you money in.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
The long run.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
But yeah, there are the water heaters.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Who recommend those. We talked about the weatherization things and
h FAC two. Now, one thing too I wanted to mention.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Is for businesses.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yes, you know it.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
This is all super important and homeowners can do.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
A lot, but we have a lot available for businesses
as well, incentives for them to make efficient upgrades.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
We actually have up to.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Three million dollars per year per business they're eligible for
in incentives.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Yeah, that's easy.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
How can they get that?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
You know, same thing? You want to go to energy
right dot com?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Right?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Okay? And business that's right.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
You go to the business section and you're gonna see
you know, upgrades for LED lighting, for HVAC systems, even
things like refrigeration equipment or you know, variable speed drives
for motors, all kinds of things that businesses use in
their processes and to keep their facilities conditioned. So really
(22:03):
recommend you look into that can help offset the cost
of those upgrades.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Not only going to make your employees.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
More comfortable, but you're gonna it's gonna help your competitive advantage,
right right?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
How do you think about that? Your businesses that they
refrigerate stuff and they heat and cool and light things.
You really don't think about that, and it certain might
I've had that for years, I've worked for it might
be worth time to get rid of it, time to
get upgrade or.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Even the processes that businesses have to use.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
You know, large manufacturers, if they're curing things, heating things,
cooling things as a part of it, they have these.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Really complex you know production lines.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Sometimes those all run on electricity, right, but sometimes they
run on things like compressed air or you know, sometimes
people have you know, gas run.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Systems, and so we can help people upgrade those things too.
And yeah, they spend a.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Lot of money, some of them on energy, and they
don't even think of it as a controllable cost.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
But it can be do better.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, I guess, yeah, you can right about any business.
The lights may be you own or maybe the wrong
kind of lights to have. Maybe you need to check
those out.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
That's right. And if you don't see an incentive listed.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
On our website that you think, well, this is what
we were thinking about doing, we do custom incentives, okay,
and honestly that's an amazing option. Maybe you even want
to put a few different things together. Oh we want
to fix this to some we want to address this,
and we think we can save energy by doing this
other thing. Contact us. We can put together a custom
(23:46):
package for you and get you an incentive that represents
the energy savings.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That you're trying to achieve.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Do people come out to your business and look around. Yeah, yes,
that's a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
For large businesses. If you have a business that uses.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Over one make a lot of energy, which if you
know what that is, then you you might be pretty
sophisticated business at.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
That point, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
But we we offer free energy assessments too, and that's
going to help you identify areas where you can save
and you can get.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Incentives for those.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
A lot of businesses use ceiling fans and talking about
counterclockwise and clockwise times. They save a lot of money
that way.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, I don't know if you know that company that
makes really really large fans.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, yeah, they have a word.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
I don't think I can say on the radio and
their name, but you know, I see those at places sometimes.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Fans.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yes, they're pretty great.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I mean, but some businesses don't even think about using
fans though, and you install fans to.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Help cool the area. But yeah, there's a lot of
things folks can.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Do, and we just want to be kind of a
source for knowledge and disperate people on their journey.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, yeah, let's go over it again. Once you do
at home to save money on your energy because in
case somebody to news showing or in late we want
to go go over again, go over again.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Okay, all right, so here we go. First, easy, easy things.
They don't cost a time. Take advantage of sunlight when
it's out there on these cold winter days. You want
to open your curtains, let that natural sunlight warm your home.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Make sure you close them at night.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Going to be an extra layer of insulation for your home.
You want to make sure that your heating vents are
open and they're not blocked by furniture or rugs, and
do not close vents and rooms you don't use often.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
That actually might make your HVAC work harder. It's going
to cost you more in the long run.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I'm stuck right there. I thought we always had the
living room closed off at home always, and it didn't work,
did it. It might have.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
It might have made the bills higher, I know, probably
it's I can see why people.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Would think that. But again, the HVAC is size to
accommodate all the rooms in your house. Okay. Another is
to set your ceiling fans.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
To run clock wise in the winter and use them
when you're in the room. It's going to push the
warm air down to where you can feel it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And then the other thing we talked about is kind
of some of the weatherization things that you can do.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Now these you might have to invest a little to do,
so weather stripping around doors and windows.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
That's going to prevent air leaks. You want to have proper.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Insulation, especially in your attic or your call space, and
don't forget we have rebates available for that. And then
you know you also want to get your h BAC
tune up done and do it before it gets really cold.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Do it before those contractors are hard to get in
touched right right now, Yeah, before you need it, because
again when you need it, oh, it's the worst time
to have your your heat or not work. But again
and we offer rebates for that as well.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And remember go to energy right dot com. Go there
and you have a lot of people going there every year.
Oh yeah, yeah, we do. We do.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
It's great. I mean getting to be on shows like
this and spread the word really helps. But yeah, we
we have you know, half million people that stop on
by every year and take a look. And there's other
tips and tricks. You know, I'm I don't want to
take all your time and but we got lots of
(27:37):
tips and tricks, and again, if you're not sure where
to start, you can go in and take our DIY
Home Energy assessment.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It's free and one of the things I didn't mention before,
but I'll mention it now just in the wrap up.
If you take that DIY Home Energy assessment, you're going
to get a free energy saving kit.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Mail to your home just for taking it, and in
that you're going to get some really great little adjets
to help you save. And you're also going to get
a ten dollars gift card to a home improvement store.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So okay, free free ten dollars to help you get
started on your energy seeing journey.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
I'll do a ten dollars gifts right, and businesses do
it too, same place, energy right dot com.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Come come there and you can find contractors to work
with and make sure you get your your rebates and
your incentives.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Anything else you want to tell us regarding TVA, just.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That you know we're we're honored to serve the folks
and we appreciate you having us well.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I appreciate you being here, and you'll come back when
it's time to warm up. When when it's warm, it's
cool when it's time to cool off again, that's right.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Heading back, that's right, y'all. I'll come back when it's
a short season.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, you know, it's the season when she comes on.
You know, it's the season, seasons changing, and it's it's
nice not to be hot. It's gonna be you know,
just nice and nice. That's right.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
That's yeah. I know I'm not gonna lee go.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I'm a bit more of a summer baby, so I
have to batten down the hatches when it's winter time.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Get the hats and my gloves out.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
You never know, we have a bad word. We don't know. Yeah,
that's right, but don't but don't wait to get this
stuff done. Go to energywright dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Thank you so much, Ashley, thank you for being wrong.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Thanks Tom expressing me.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
That's actually England Tennessee Valley Authorities Energy Saving Expert. To
find out more, visit energy right dot com or TVA
dot com. For questions of comments on today's program, you
can email me John Clark at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks
for listening. I'll talk to you next week right here
in your favorite local radio station on Tennessee matters,
It's Tennessee Matters on the Tennessee Radio Network. Welcome to
Tennessee Matters. I'm John Clark and the Tennessee Radio Network.
The Tennessee Valley Authority or TVA serves more than ten
million people across seven states with affordable, reliable, and resilient energy.
(00:22):
They also help you save money on your energy bills.
And here to talk about that for the winter months
is Ashley England TVA's energy savings expert. Actually England TVA
energy savings expert here. We are again, so great to
be here with you. It's great to be here with
you too. We talked last time we were here, we
(00:45):
talked about the summer months because it was heating up.
But now it's going to be cooling down. So we're
going to talk about what you need to do. But
first of all, Tennis, what TVA is.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, So, the Tennessee Valley Authority provides a lotlectricity for
one hundred and fifty three local power companies serving about
ten million people within seven states here in the Southeast.
And we also have about sixty large industrial customers and
federal installations.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I think some of the important things to.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Know are we don't get any taxpayer funding. Our revenues
come from the sales of electricity, but we also provide
flood control, navigation, and land management for the Tennessee River System,
and we love to assist local power companies and regional
governments with economic development. So, you know, we are public
(01:41):
power and we're in a really unique position.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
We think it's a really great model because everything.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
We do is just tied to the best interests of
the people that we serve, and we're not looking to
make a profit.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I think it's interesting you guys tie in with
President Roosevelt. You basically yeah, that's dialectly.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Oh yeah, I mean, if you're a history buff, you
know the TVA definitely you remember that we were We
were created in nineteen thirty three and created.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
From an Act of Congress, so a long legacy of
serving the people and really bringing electricity to parts of
the United States that other electric providers wouldn't serve.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Said there's no money to be made there, we're not
going in, and the government said, well we really, these
folks are really struggling.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
We got to bring electricity. So we're really proud of
that legacy.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, we hear so much when you talk about what
you do, and we hear so much how you have
to keep going because there's more people coming to Tennessee
and you guys have to keep finding new ways to
generate energy and to save energy.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh yeah, I mean that our area is growing rapidly
faster than the rest of the country and so and
in part of that too, is that a lot of
buildings are starting to electrify more than replacing you know,
natural gas appliances and processes with electrical processes. And of
(03:12):
course you know, if you've read the news in the
last two years, you've probably read about data centers and
AI and those things.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Do they consume a lot of electricity.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So yes, we are constantly innovating and figuring out how to.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Build to meet the need.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, one of the ways you get people to save
money by saving all electricity. Let's talk about that. What
are some ways they're do it for the winter months
coming up? They have especially it may get cold. So
what can people do to keep their home warm in
the winter months?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, you know, the breeze, the crisps in the air.
We know it's coming. And so here's some really easy
actions you can take to save on energy. First, take
advantage of those sunny days when it's out there, open
your curtains, let the natural sunlight warm your home, and
you want to then.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Go ahead and close them at night. That's gonna provide
an extra layer of insulation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
And some people like to purchase thicker curtains. You can
often see them they're called thermal curtains in the winter,
and that can help keep the cold air out, and
you might consider purchasing some of those.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Another thing is to.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Make sure that your heating vents are open and that
they're not blocked by furniture or rugs.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
A lot of people we go into homes, we perform
home energy evaluations.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
For folks, and we see a lot of folks you know, oh,
well I thought it was okay, I just put my
dresser over here, or that was the best place for
the TV. And you find your blocking your heating met
and that's probably why your room's really cool. Probably that's
then that you know, folks think what it moves around it, Well, no,
(04:57):
it's gonna work harder.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
So and don't close the vents in rooms. Some folks think,
oh if.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I close the vent in the room, I don't use
as much my hvact won't work as hard, but that's
a myth. Your hvact is sized to accommodate all the
rooms in your house, and so the system's going to
generate the same amount of hot air no matter how
many events are open.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And your system might actually overwork to try to like
push air in new places. So and then that can
make your energy bill goes up.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Bills go up, So make sure your vents are open
and up locked. And then the final one that I
always liked your mind people, and I got to get
myself in my winter habits is to set your ceiling
fans to run clockwise in the winter. Really, yes, most
people don't realize that their fans even have a switch
(05:47):
on them, but you know it's up off the base
of the fan.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
If you get closed, get up on your ladder there
and take a look. Switch it. Make sure it's running clockwise.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
That's going to help spread that warm air out in
your room.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So it's opposite of what you do in the summer.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, you put you push the warm air down, and
yeah it kind of helps spread that warm area or
HVAX creating.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So but but please turn it off. When you're not
in the room.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Fans warm people, fans cool people.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
They don't cool.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Or warm rooms.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
They don't do anything for the room if you're not
a See.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
I can't get that. I can't grasp that. It's so weird.
I lean mine running.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
So you know those air circulation, Yeah, it does move
the air around, but you're not in their does you.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Don't feel it? I feel that that's true. What about
space heaters and things like that, you know, would.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Really caution people to be very careful about space heaters.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
You know, they might be a great choice if you
have a really.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Small space or specialized area that you're trying to keep warm,
but they can be dangerous first off, and secondly, they're
not made to do whole home heating. And if you
try to run multiple space heaters or you expect you're
gonna actually spend.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
A lot more money, you're better off just running your
h vacs.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
You always hear said, you always hear fires around them.
They start, they turn over and start a fire, and
it's terrible.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know you want to make sure
you have a newer space heater.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
There are some safety mechanisms they've built into them now
but you know, we recommend people don't leave them running
overnight when you're asleep. All those kinds of things you
can really lead to tragedy.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah you can't. Well, right now you have some special
incentives online when you can go and look on the website.
What is the website again.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah, it's energy right dot com. We've got amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Rebates right now for h FACT systems, which, of course.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
This time of year, you know you go to turn on,
you turn on the heater for the first time. Maybe
it has a little funky smell, maybe because.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
That's right, but if worse, if it's worse than that,
it doesn't come on at all, or maybe it starts smoking,
you know, some weird stuff and you need to replace it.
We have we have incentives for replacing your h back
up to fifteen hundred dollars to help offset the cost
of energy efficient HVAC systems. We also have rebates available
(08:41):
for some of those really great what we call weatherization upgrades.
Those are things like air ceiling, duckt ceiling, attic insulation
that's going to really keep all the nice warm air
your HVAC is producing inside your home, make sure it's
not co out leaks and cracks. A lot of people
(09:02):
don't realize that they you know, you can lose a
lot of conditioned air through small holes in your home.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
So getting it air sealed, duct sealed and.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Your attic insulation is a great way to save money
and energy.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I guess you don't think about that, but that really does.
You lose a lot of energy that way in an
older house too.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Absolutely, And one of my favorites, honestly is attic insulation.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
I'm always like, don't sleep on attic insulation.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
It doesn't sound as a sexy maybe, but it's great.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It's like a warm blanket for your home. It keeps
that warm air in where you want it to be.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And we have right now five hundred dollars rebate for
attic insulation help offset the cost of that.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
So this is good. But a long time she's been up.
You're an addict. Just scope you're adding and take a look.
You see.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, absolutely, And even if you maybe had you know,
decent attic insulation fifteen twenty years ago, can start to.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Wear and kind of lose its after a while. So
and you know, if you're not sure, you're not sure,
do I need new attic installation.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
We offer this really amazing DIY home Energy assessment.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
You can it'll kind of guide you through all the
places of you're.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Home and it'll tell you what to look for and
that can help you assess whether you might need to
replace your attic installation.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Now, the contractors you use are already approved by you guys, right,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yeah, their license, they're trained and vetted, you know, and
we make sure they go through training on energy efficiency
standards because we want to make sure you're getting a
great job. So you know, sometimes people can be maybe
less than ethical. They'll say, yeah, your home is fine,
(10:52):
and we don't want them doing that.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
We want to make sure you're getting them great and
you have to use those to get the rebased I
want everybody to know that you have to use their
contractors to get the rebates. That's right.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
We called the Quality Contractor Network. We've actually grown that
network in the last year. We tried to get more contractors.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Just to make sure that you know, the chances that
you're going to find a contractor you love on that
list is really high. But yeah, you can again you
find those that are website. You just entering your zip code.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
You're going to see who serves your area, find a
contractor on that list, contact them and you know, if
you say, hey, I'm interested in this and i'd like
to get one of the TVA rebates, they'll say okay,
and they'll do the work for you.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
You know, they'll submit the application and you just get
checking the mail.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Oh good, all right, So make sure you go to
the website and look up the contractor. Don't just call Well,
I know my cousin does it. This guy, he's not
going to get it. He's not going to get a savings.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
But if your cousin's a great contractor told them to
call us and join.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
The network, that's right, that's that easy. Yeah, I just
want to I say, everybody knows X because somebody who
call them members.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yeah, it's true. People all you know, I get it.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
People have folks that they've known for a while. Maybe
they use and oh why can't I get the rebate?
And again it's we provide that network because we want
to make sure that you're getting.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
A quality installation and that you're you have peace of mind.
That's why we do it.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Now, if they need a whole new HVAC system, you
have some incentive.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Available for that too, right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
We've gotten centives available for different kinds of HVAC systems,
so you know, whether you need a mini split or
a heat.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Pump or a central air conditioner.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
We've got repaates available for efficient units and up to
fifteen hundred dollars. I mean, it's really can help offset
the cost a lot of upgrading from you know, maybe
a base model to a slightly more efficient model.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I should ask you to what what if somebody's going
to do it themselves? I mean, what if they're happen
to do that, but they're they're whether they're contractor or
not a contract they happen to know how to do
this stuff. Can they get the rebate? Should they go
on your How does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Right now? We do not offer d I you know,
do yourself installation rebates. It's something we've been considering.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
We're looking into it, but right now you have to
use a number of the quality contractor network in order
to qualify for a rebate.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Okay, so let's go with that again. You can get
what now to have it inspected, get it, do something
for that.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yep. So if you so, a couple of options if
you want to get a tune up first.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Okay, that's a great option, and I really recommend that
to folks every.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Year or twice a year. Go ahead, get.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Your system tuned up before the winter weather really hits.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
That professional who's going to come in, the HVAC professional.
They're gonna look at your system. They're gonna make sure
that your air filters have been replaced.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
They're gonna do an inspection of your condenser and your
evaporator coils and compressor and refrigerant, charge all those systems
and make sure that your HVAC.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Is prepared for the winter weather.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
We first off, we give a fifty dollars roomate for that,
and that doesn't typically cost very much, but you know,
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right,
you catch it early before it gets bad. So that's
one way, and we do recommend you go ahead and
have a contractor come out and do that. Then, if
(14:44):
you're not sure what you need, maybe you think your
HVAC system has been replaced somewhat recently, or it seems
like it's in fine working condition, but maybe your bills
have been higher lately.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
You're just not sure. You just want to make your
home as comfortable as possible. For two options, we have
a DIY home energy assessment.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Again, you just go online. You know, you can take
it on your phone. It's gonna ask you questions, you
walk around your house. It takes all of ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's a great option to kind of just figure it
out for yourself. If maybe you're not as tech savvy, maybe.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
You don't want to go into your attic, you don't
want to look in your cross space, which I understand.
Then we also offer home energy evaluations where a professional
can come in do a full top to bottom inspection
of your home and tell you and give you a tailored,
you know, recommended list of ways you can save around
your home. And then they can also kind of explain
(15:45):
to you the rebate process if you have any questions
at that point.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
And that's free.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yes, yeah, absolutely, and you should get it done now
instead of waiting to your freezing to death. Oh my gosh,
what are we going to do. We're gonna win a
storm coming.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Absolutely, it's hard to do things like this too, but
I do remind folks like you.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Want to get your system looked at now before it
is freezing cold. Because you better believe that when it
gets fridgid out, those contractors.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Are busy, busy, busy, busy.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
I know.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Yeah, it's hard to get them to come out. And
you don't want to be sitting there in the freezing cold,
you know, on.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
A holiday with family in town or something like that.
So go ahead, bite the bullet, do it early, get
it done, and then you.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
Can feel safe.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Now you don't want to go out and you're freezing
to death and you go buy a space heater and
then it turns over to kid's house on fire. You
don't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
You don't want to do that. Yeah, that's a good.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Point that happens sometimes. Just why we're news We know
about these things. Well, TVA sells energy, so why are
you encouraging people to be more energy conscious?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Well, you know, we get this question, and I get it,
but I think it's important to.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Know that when we can lower demand for energy, especially
at those peak times, those you know, the early winter
mornings when it's frigid and everybody's starting to use their
HVAC and all they're making breakfast in the ovens on
all that stuff, or even you know.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
In the evening you're preparing to those peak times.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It can help TVA save on operational costs and reduces
our need to invest in really expensive infrastructure.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
To meet those occasional peak needs.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So rather than let's build power plants that we're only
going to use ten times a year for peak needs,
it's a lot better when we can just get folks
to use a little less energy at those peak times,
and then those costs savings get passed along to our customers. Right.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That means lower rates.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
That means that you know, you're not having to spend
as much money either on your energy bills.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
It's not just for us, it's it's for the folks
that we serve. We want them to be able to
save on their energy bills.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Because you're getting so many people coming into state down
and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. You really
have to pay attention to that your energy. You have
to I mean generating the energy.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Yeah, are the folks that work in our you know,
are forecasting group that are trying to read the tea
leaves and look ahead and understand what's coming into our
area and how much power.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
They They have a really hard job, you know, but yeah,
You're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
There are so many people coming and when when we
can reduce If everybody can kind of reduce their energy
usage by just a.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Little bit, it leaves room for new folks to come.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
And for us, that means new jobs, That means new
company that can set up shop here in our region,
and that makes quality of.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Life better for everyone. So we're building, don't get me wrong.
You know, we are building a lot of infrastructure to
meet the need. But this is another thing that we
can do to help meet that need. And we're actually investing.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
TVA is one point five billion dollars in programs.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Like this over the next three four years.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Wow. So you have people that get in rooms that
we're in now and they figure these things out. That's
their job.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah, you know, I'm a talker. They're the they're the thinker,
they're the math people. So I greatly appreciate them.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And yeah, we're just trying to make life better for
the ten million people we serve, and we appreciate, you know,
everything that folks do to help us do that.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, you really do. I mean I think in Tennessee
it's growing so much. I can't imagine the the meetings
you have about that, but you do have to have
those meanings.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, absolutely, And you know we're also we are not
only trying to keep rates as low as feasible, but
we're also trying to encourage the economic development and we're
trying to be good stewards of the resources and trusted
to us.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
So you know, we have to consider all those things
where we're making decisions.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah. You know, we didn't talk about water heaters. That's
one thing you need to change too. That's one thing
that can really cost a lot of money is if
you run the water. But if you have a water
heater that's not efficient, Yes, and a lot of people
don't have them that they are efficient, they're still they last,
they chug along, They chug along, so they tear up
(20:48):
when you sell the house.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
And you know, one of the things we recommend folks
look into is heat pump water heaters. They can have
really great efficiency ratings and save you money in.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
The long run.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
But yeah, there are the water heaters.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Who recommend those. We talked about the weatherization things and
h FAC two. Now, one thing too I wanted to mention.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Is for businesses.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yes, you know it.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
This is all super important and homeowners can do.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
A lot, but we have a lot available for businesses
as well, incentives for them to make efficient upgrades.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
We actually have up to.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Three million dollars per year per business they're eligible for
in incentives.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Yeah, that's easy.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
How can they get that?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
So?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
You know, same thing? You want to go to energy
right dot com?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Right?
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Okay? And business that's right.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
You go to the business section and you're gonna see
you know, upgrades for LED lighting, for HVAC systems, even
things like refrigeration equipment or you know, variable speed drives
for motors, all kinds of things that businesses use in
their processes and to keep their facilities conditioned. So really
(22:03):
recommend you look into that can help offset the cost
of those upgrades.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Not only going to make your employees.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
More comfortable, but you're gonna it's gonna help your competitive advantage,
right right?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
How do you think about that? Your businesses that they
refrigerate stuff and they heat and cool and light things.
You really don't think about that, and it certain might
I've had that for years, I've worked for it might
be worth time to get rid of it, time to
get upgrade or.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Even the processes that businesses have to use.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
You know, large manufacturers, if they're curing things, heating things,
cooling things as a part of it, they have these.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Really complex you know production lines.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Sometimes those all run on electricity, right, but sometimes they
run on things like compressed air or you know, sometimes
people have you know, gas run.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Systems, and so we can help people upgrade those things too.
And yeah, they spend a.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Lot of money, some of them on energy, and they
don't even think of it as a controllable cost.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
But it can be do better.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yeah, I guess, yeah, you can right about any business.
The lights may be you own or maybe the wrong
kind of lights to have. Maybe you need to check
those out.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
That's right. And if you don't see an incentive listed.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
On our website that you think, well, this is what
we were thinking about doing, we do custom incentives, okay,
and honestly that's an amazing option. Maybe you even want
to put a few different things together. Oh we want
to fix this to some we want to address this,
and we think we can save energy by doing this
other thing. Contact us. We can put together a custom
(23:46):
package for you and get you an incentive that represents
the energy savings.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That you're trying to achieve.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Do people come out to your business and look around. Yeah, yes,
that's a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
For large businesses. If you have a business that uses.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Over one make a lot of energy, which if you
know what that is, then you you might be pretty
sophisticated business at.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
That point, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
But we we offer free energy assessments too, and that's
going to help you identify areas where you can save
and you can get.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Incentives for those.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
A lot of businesses use ceiling fans and talking about
counterclockwise and clockwise times. They save a lot of money
that way.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Yeah, I don't know if you know that company that
makes really really large fans.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, yeah, they have a word.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
I don't think I can say on the radio and
their name, but you know, I see those at places sometimes.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Fans.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yes, they're pretty great.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
I mean, but some businesses don't even think about using
fans though, and you install fans to.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Help cool the area. But yeah, there's a lot of
things folks can.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Do, and we just want to be kind of a
source for knowledge and disperate people on their journey.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, yeah, let's go over it again. Once you do
at home to save money on your energy because in
case somebody to news showing or in late we want
to go go over again, go over again.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Okay, all right, so here we go. First, easy, easy things.
They don't cost a time. Take advantage of sunlight when
it's out there on these cold winter days. You want
to open your curtains, let that natural sunlight warm your home.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Make sure you close them at night.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Going to be an extra layer of insulation for your home.
You want to make sure that your heating vents are
open and they're not blocked by furniture or rugs, and
do not close vents and rooms you don't use often.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
That actually might make your HVAC work harder. It's going
to cost you more in the long run.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I'm stuck right there. I thought we always had the
living room closed off at home always, and it didn't work,
did it. It might have.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
It might have made the bills higher, I know, probably
it's I can see why people.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Would think that. But again, the HVAC is size to
accommodate all the rooms in your house. Okay. Another is
to set your ceiling fans.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
To run clock wise in the winter and use them
when you're in the room. It's going to push the
warm air down to where you can feel it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
And then the other thing we talked about is kind
of some of the weatherization things that you can do.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Now these you might have to invest a little to do,
so weather stripping around doors and windows.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
That's going to prevent air leaks. You want to have proper.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Insulation, especially in your attic or your call space, and
don't forget we have rebates available for that. And then
you know you also want to get your h BAC
tune up done and do it before it gets really cold.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
Do it before those contractors are hard to get in
touched right right now, Yeah, before you need it, because
again when you need it, oh, it's the worst time
to have your your heat or not work. But again
and we offer rebates for that as well.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And remember go to energy right dot com. Go there
and you have a lot of people going there every year.
Oh yeah, yeah, we do. We do.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
It's great. I mean getting to be on shows like
this and spread the word really helps. But yeah, we
we have you know, half million people that stop on
by every year and take a look. And there's other
tips and tricks. You know, I'm I don't want to
take all your time and but we got lots of
(27:37):
tips and tricks, and again, if you're not sure where
to start, you can go in and take our DIY
Home Energy assessment.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It's free and one of the things I didn't mention before,
but I'll mention it now just in the wrap up.
If you take that DIY Home Energy assessment, you're going
to get a free energy saving kit.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Mail to your home just for taking it, and in
that you're going to get some really great little adjets
to help you save. And you're also going to get
a ten dollars gift card to a home improvement store.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So okay, free free ten dollars to help you get
started on your energy seeing journey.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
I'll do a ten dollars gifts right, and businesses do
it too, same place, energy right dot com.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Come come there and you can find contractors to work
with and make sure you get your your rebates and
your incentives.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Anything else you want to tell us regarding TVA, just.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
That you know we're we're honored to serve the folks
and we appreciate you having us well.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
I appreciate you being here, and you'll come back when
it's time to warm up. When when it's warm, it's
cool when it's time to cool off again, that's right.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Heading back, that's right, y'all. I'll come back when it's
a short season.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, you know, it's the season when she comes on.
You know, it's the season, seasons changing, and it's it's
nice not to be hot. It's gonna be you know,
just nice and nice. That's right.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
That's yeah. I know I'm not gonna lee go.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I'm a bit more of a summer baby, so I
have to batten down the hatches when it's winter time.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Get the hats and my gloves out.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
You never know, we have a bad word. We don't know. Yeah,
that's right, but don't but don't wait to get this
stuff done. Go to energywright dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Thank you so much, Ashley, thank you for being wrong.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Thanks Tom expressing me.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
That's actually England Tennessee Valley Authorities Energy Saving Expert. To
find out more, visit energy right dot com or TVA
dot com. For questions of comments on today's program, you
can email me John Clark at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks
for listening. I'll talk to you next week right here
in your favorite local radio station on Tennessee matters,
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