Make an Earth Day resolution
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Earth Day is April 22
Here are some easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint:
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Join our Green Up program. Green Up customers voluntarily pay a little extra to cover the higher costs of purchasing new sources of renewable energy. These dollars help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions. You can enroll online with the Green Up program at www.seattle.gov/greenup.
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Receive $30 by recycling your older, working, extra refrigerator. We'll even pick it up! One less refrigerator can save up to $120 annually on your bills. Over its lifetime, an old refrigerator can create up to 10 tons of CO2. For more details and to schedule a free pickup, visit jacoinc.net or call 1-877-577-0510.
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Replace your furnace filters each month for greater efficiency and cleaner airCheck heating systems in the fall and check air conditioning systems in the spring.
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Use ENERGY STAR® compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) which last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs and use one-fourth the electricity. CFLs have 6,000 to 12,000 hours of life compared to an average 1,000 hours for incandescent bulbs. ENERGY STAR® now requires testing of CFLs by a certified independent laboratory. Visit www.seattle.gov/twistandsave for information on where to install CFLs.
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Recycle used CFLs for free at Home Depot, Bartell Drug and McLendon's Hardware. CFLs contain a small amount of mercury so they must not be thrown in the trash.
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Attend free solar workshops offered by City Light each month through June. Coming May 2: Solar Hot Water 101 at Camp Long in West Seattle. To register online go to www.seattle.gov/light/solar and select "Upcoming Events."
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Contact our Conservation Help Line, (206) 684-3800, for more information about conserving energy at home, or visit www.seattle.gov/light/conserve.
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Reducing emissions on the road
 Last year, the City of Seattle partnered with other local agencies in a year-long demonstration project, testing the performance of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the Seattle area. City Light is contributing three converted Priuses for monitoring during this project.
PHEVs can travel up to 30 miles powered solely by the rechargeable battery at a cost equivalent to less than $1 per gallon of gasoline. The greenhouse-gas emissions from these vehicles are expected to be 25 to 50 percent less than the emissions from conventional Priuses.
New "grid-aware" technology from V2Green, a Seattle company, collects real-time performance data for these vehicles and provides "smart charging" capability which gives us more control over the timing, pace and extent of vehicle charging.
Program data monitored by the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory indicates that, during 2008, the highest gasoline fuel economy was 59 miles per gallon for trips powered largely by the plug-in battery pack. Trips that were not powered by the plug-in battery had a fuel economy of 40 mpg. Overall fuel economy for all trips combined was 51 mpg (2,975 trips, 17,636 miles traveled by fourteen PHEVs).
| Our performance report card |
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It is important to share Seattle City Light's 2008 performance information so you can see how we did in reaching our goals. If you'd like further information, please call Customer Care at (206) 684-3111, or e-mail kelly.enright@seattle.gov.
| Key Measurement |
Benchmark |
2008 Performance |
Achieved |
Steps Being Taken
to Improve Performance |
| Percent of calls answered live within 60 seconds by the Utility Call Center. |
80 percent |
92 percent |
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Continue improvement efforts. Improve Outage Hotline functions. |
| Frequency of non-storm power outages (outage caused by trees in lines and equipment failure, etc.), per year,
per customer. |
Less than 1 outage |
1.5 outages |
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Trim trees from powerlines on a four-year cycle. Complete inventory of physical assets to move to a regular maintenance/replacement cycle. |
| Length of non-storm power outages per customer, per year. |
Less than 50 minutes |
88.4 minutes |
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Maintain and upgrade the distribution system on a regular schedule. Currently inventorying all assets and scheduling maintenance work. |
| Number of complaints per 1,000 customers. |
0.5 percent |
.09 percent |
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Continually monitor and solicit customer feedback |
| Bill-error percentage (e.g., estimated meter reads, incorrect rates) among all customers. |
1.5 percent |
1.57 percent |
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Monitor and validate methods for estimating meter reads. Randomly select accounts to verify. |
| Customer satisfaction with City Light field and engineering services. |
Residential and commercial combined: 3.58
Rating Scale:
1 to 5 (very dissatisfied to very satisfied) |
Residential customers: 3.72 Commercial customers: 3.77 Residential and commercial combined: 3.75 |
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Streamline administrative procedures and improve processes in engineering, operations and scheduling. Moniter efforts and continue to survey customers. |
| Time needed to perform residential electrical connections requiring field services. |
60 days |
51 days |
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Continue process improvements whenever possible. |
| Customer conservation savings (across all customer groups). |
8.4 average megawatts |
10.4 average megawatts (enough to power 8,500 average households for a year) |
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Increase opportunities for residential and commercial customers to conserve energy. Encourage recommendations from customers on ways to cut energy use. |
Paperless billing is here
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Paperless billing, also known as eBill, will save you time, postage costs and will reduce paper use. With eBill, you utilize a self-service Web site to make utility bill payments, access up to two years of utility billing statements, and view eBill-payment history. Customers who use eBill receive timely email communications such as notices of new statements and payment confirmations.
- eBill services are free of charge.
- Online bill payments can be made from your checking account, or with VISA and MasterCard credit and debit cards.
- Our vendor, Metavante, uses multiple security features to protect your financial and personal information.
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To sign up for eBill, visit www.seattle.gov/light/accounts and click the link to electronic billing and payments. To get started, you'll need to enter your utility account number and the billing address zip code. Call Customer Service at (206) 684-3000 if you need assistance.
Customers enrolled in eBill can continue to access the Light Reading newsletter at www.seattle.gov/light/publications/lightreading, or by signing up for an automatic electronic version delivered to your e-mail address, or by requesting a hard copy from Customer Service at (206) 684-3000.
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