Overview
Home Energy Use
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the typical U.S. family spends $1,300 a year on home energy bills, and some of that energy is wasted. Heating, ventilating and air conditioning units are inefficient, windows leak conditioned air, and appliances devour energy.
For more information on conserving energy and saving money on energy costs, visit our Safety & Savings section, where you can find helpful tips for all seasons, an online energy audit, and much more.
Is your bill higher than usual?
Energy Audit
Take the home tour and see what you can save through energy saving practices: Click here
Renewable Energy
Interconnection/Net Metering
If a member decides to purchase a renewable power system for their home, the process to interconnect that system with Laurens Electric is as follows: The member must agree to meet the Laurens Electric’s standards for interconnection.
Green Power
With the option of purchasing Green Power, Laurens Electric Cooperative, Inc. customers can now directly reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere.
Green Power Pricing
Safety & Savings
We want to help you use electricity safely and efficiently, which in turn helps keep your power bill lower. Laurens Electric’s web site has an extensive collection of safety and savings tips, links, and resources.
Power Saver Rewards Cash Back Program
Power Saver Rewards is a cash back program that allows you to make a difference in keeping power costs low.
It’s Easy! It’s Simple! Laurens Electric will professionally install a Smart Switch to manage the energy use of your air conditioning unit, electric water heater, swimming pool pump, or any combination of the three at no cost to you and you start saving money.
Click here to find out more and sign up
Together We Save
Together, we have the power to save energy. Find out how much you can be saving in your home.
Energy Library
Our Energy Library features hundreds of photos, illustrations and diagrams to help customers learn more about residential energy efficiency for both existing homes and new construction.
Home Energy Saver
The Home Energy Saver is designed to help customers identify the best ways to save energy in their homes, and find the resources to make the savings happen. The online audit quickly computes a home’s energy use on-line based on methods developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Users can estimate how much energy and money can be saved and how much emissions can be reduced by implementing energy-efficiency improvements. Users can begin the process by simply entering their zip code, and in turn receive instant initial estimates. By providing more information about the home, the user will receive increasingly customized results along with energy-saving upgrade recommendations.
Residential Service Energy Star Schedule
Attainable by new or existing homes, the requirements to qualify for the energy efficiency rate are set by Energy Star at energystar.gov. Members must get a HERS (Home Energy Efficiency Rating System) certified contractor to certify that the home meets Energy Star requirements (a HERS rating of 85 or less) to qualify for this rate. Learn More »
PalmettoPower.com
We’ve helped power up a Web site full of educational tools for teachers and fun learning experiences for students. Cooperatives want to help teachers and students learn about producing electricity with renewable sources that are environmentally responsible and economically reasonable. PalmettoPower.com includes activities, lesson plans and materials about electricity and energy that correspond with the S.C. Department of Education standards for science.
Energy Library
Everything you could ever want to know about energy, it’s history and how it works.
Click here to visit the Energy Library
Energy Star Rate Schedule
The Residential Service Energy Star Schedule “RES” became available to Laurens Electric Cooperative members December 1, 2010.
There are two different charges within the rate; one for a standard residential service, and the other for all electric residential service.
The new Energy Star rate (RES) provides a separate energy efficiency rate for members with standard residential service (members with gas service). The requirements to qualify for the energy efficiency rate are set by Energy Star at energystar.gov, and will not require Laurens Electric to do an on-site visit to certify. Members must get a HERS (Home Energy Efficiency Rating System) certified contractor to certify that the home meets Energy Star requirements (a HERS rating of 85 or less).
LEC’s rate is attainable for customers with existing homes. All co-op members who have a HERS rating of 85 or less qualify regardless of an Energy Star label.
The average cost for a member to get a HERS certified rater to rate their home is the following:
New Home: $400 to $500
Existing Home: $600 to $800
If the home does not meet the HERS rating of 85 or less, the HERS rater will provide a list of things homeowners can do to reach a rating of 85.
Everything members need to know about qualifying for the Energy Star rate, including a list of HERS certified contractors is located at www.energystar.gov.
Click here to visit the Energy Star website