ECI REC: Committed to Energy Efficiency
To keep your costs down, we have several programs to help you use electricity more efficiently. In fact, the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives has recognized us for our excellence in offering and promoting energy-saving ideas and products to our member-consumers. We'll do everything we can to help you find ways to decrease your electric bill by becoming more energy savvy!
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We offer incentives for residential, agricultural, and commercial members through our Energy Efficiency Programs.
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Energy audits resources.
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A full line of literature provides more detail about how to save energy.
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Use our website as a resource for energy tips and resources.
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Locate links to current federal income tax credits for residential energy efficiency via energystar.gov.
ECI REC Supports Energy Efficiency
Iowa’s locally owned electric cooperatives have a long history of supporting energy efficiency; in fact, we’ve been offering cost-effective energy-efficiency programs since the late 1980s. These programs include rebates and incentives for various energy-efficient products, such as ENERGY STAR® appliances, water heaters, LED lighting, and heating and cooling systems. East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative (ECI REC) also offers programs designed to reduce electric demand, such as our residential, agricultural, and commercial rebates and incentives. Additionally, your electric cooperative continues to upgrade facilities to maximize efficiency, including more efficient transformers and upgrades to substations. Generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity more efficiently helps ECI REC manage costs more effectively, ultimately resulting in lower utility bills for our members.
Iowa's electric cooperatives work in cooperation with other cooperatives to more effectively deliver energy-efficiency programs to members. By partnering with other cooperatives, energy-efficiency programs can be developed and delivered more effectively and at a lower cost than ECI REC could do alone.
Working together with other community-focused cooperatives, ECI REC assesses the costs and benefits of each program to determine what to offer our members. Standardly, we perform four benefit-cost tests to determine the cost-effectiveness of the program. First, the participant cost test determines whether the program is cost-effective from the perspective of the participant in the program. Second, the utility cost test determines whether the program is cost-effective from the perspective of ECI REC. Third, the ratepayers' impact cost test, also referred to as the RIM test, determines whether the program is cost-effective from the perspective of Cooperative members who do not participate in the program. Finally, the societal test determines whether the program is cost-effective from the perspective of society in general.
Ultimately, ECI REC invests in energy-efficiency programs to benefit the communities we serve. In 2024, your electric cooperative invested $0.00070327 per kWh of its revenue in energy-efficiency programs.
If you have questions or concerns or would like to learn more about energy efficiency, please contact us at 319-443-4343 and ask to speak with a member service representative.