WIEB POWERFORWARD PRESENTATION

Abstract: PowerForward is a collaborative, statewide energy conservation information campaign sponsored by the State of Utah, the media and Utah’s public and investor owned utilities. The PowerForward campaign is designed to provide timely information that alert’s consumers to those days during the summer, and times on those days, when conservation of electricity is necessary to maintain affordable and reliable supplies of electricity for Utah consumers and economy. Through the PowerForward website, consumers are also provided information on practical, voluntary low-cost and no-cost actions individuals and businesses can take to reduce non-essential electricity use this summer.

The foundation of the campaign is the PowerForward Alert network. The alert system is keyed to three familiar colors, green, yellow and red. Each color is indicative of the level of energy conservation needed on a given day or peak demand period during a day. The color designation for each day is declared by the Utah Energy Office based on information the office receives from utilities, weather reports, and information received on projected demand, regional power supplies, and whoelsale power prices. The PowerForward designation for each day is announced the day-ahead at 3:00 PM and forwarded to television, print, and radio media. Notices are also emailed to subscribers to the PowerForward alert system.

Results of the campaign indicate that on declared “Yellow” PowerForward days, Utah consumers reduced electricity loads by an average of 100 MW, representing about 3.5 % of the electricity load in the state.