News Release
Four Towns Recognized for Participation in Western Mass Saves Community Challenge
Sunderland leads energy savings in the contest offered to WMECo customer residents
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., April 19, 2012—Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo) recognizes Sunderland, Amherst, Ludlow and Easthampton for their participation in the Western Mass Saves Community Challenge. The contest challenged each of the four communities to achieve 3 percent total energy savings, accomplished through the combined savings of participating WMECo customer residents.
Between April 22 and December 31 2011, residents of the towns who are WMECo customers could sign up and link their WMECo account with Western Mass Saves, then receive personalized tips to save energy in their homes. As participating residents saved more energy in their homes, they helped their community get closer to the overall goal. The percent of savings achieved by each town was determined by comparing participants’ electric usage during the Challenge period to their usage during the same period in 2010.
“Congratulations to all the towns whose residents rose to this challenge,” said Peter J. Clarke, president and chief operating officer of WMECo. “Western Mass Saves is a win-win program for our customers, and the residential savings in turn helps the communities they live in get closer to meeting green goals. We can all work together to save energy.”
Although none of the four communities achieved 3 percent savings during the Challenge, each town did achieve some savings. In Ludlow, 441 WMECo customers participated to reach 0.10 percent savings. Amherst achieved 0.55 percent savings with 673 participants. Easthampton had 566 participants and 0.89 percent energy savings. Ludlow, Amherst and Easthampton each will be awarded 20 screw-in LED light bulbs in recognition of their energy savings as a Challenge community.
The Town of Sunderland led the contest, achieving 2.31 percent savings. Sunderland will be rewarded for its leadership with a 1 kilowatt solar photovoltaic panel, presented by WMECo at the Town Select Board meeting in Sunderland on Monday night.
“Sunderland is excited to be the recipient of the solar panel as a result of our Western Mass Saves program efforts,” said Margaret Nartowicz, Town Administrator. “The community committed to follow the Western Mass Saves program suggestions to reduce energy usage, so it’s great to see that we could really make a difference! We thank WMECo for this award and the residents of Sunderland for their participation and continued support of energy conservation,” she said.
WMECo urges all residential customers to sign up with Western Mass Saves, an online service designed to motivate customers to save energy. By linking directly to a WMECo account, the program helps customers easily track their energy use, save more energy at home and earn rewards for their savings with promotional discounts to national and local merchants, such as Whole Foods Market in Hadley and Sears.com. Customers who join Western Mass Saves before May 1 will receive 200 bonus reward points for signing up. Customers should visit