Place an Ad | Subscribe | Advertise With Us

Pee Dee Electric to distribute compact fluorescent light bulbs

Morning News Staff Reports/Morning News
Published: April 28, 2008

DARLINGTON — Pee Dee Electric Cooperative has joined with the state’s other 19 electric cooperatives in a multi-year campaign to place seven million energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in the home of every cooperative member in South Carolina.

Pee Dee Electric Cooperative serves consumer-members in six counties of northeastern South Carolina.

Beginning in May and continuing through the end of June, each household served by Pee Dee Electric will receive two free CFLs in the mail as part of a new “Do the Light Switch” program. The cooperative also plans to give free CFLs to members who register at its annual meeting in October.

In this first year of the program, 1.2 million CFLs will be distributed statewide.

“We’re giving our members an opportunity to do something about their power bill,” Pee Dee Electric Cooperative President and CEO Toy Nettles said in a press release. “By helping folks reduce their energy use, we can lower the cost of generating energy and pass those savings on to our members.”

One 60-watt equivalent CFL is reported to save an average of $30 over its lifetime. CFLs use about 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs.

According to Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, if every household in South Carolina changed just one ordinary bulb to a CFL, up to 83 million kilowatt-hours of electricity would be saved each year. That’s enough energy to light all of the homes in Darlington and Marion counties and half the city of Florence for a year.

More information about CFLs is available at DoTheLightSwitch.com.