by
Lacy Stockton
| May 18, 2021
What's on tap for next Wednesday, May 19th? Read on to learn about the Power Hour, coming next week to a device near you!
Lacy: Should we do the big reveal?
Griselda & Sergio: Ready!
Scott: Yeah.
Watch this episode of the Power Hour:
The Power Hour is available LIVE on Facebook Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. Our energy solutions team will be there to answer your questions on rebates, energy efficiency, renewables like solar, electric vehicles, incentives for local businesses, home improvements, and more.
You can join us live and ask your questions in the event comments. Or email your questions to conservation@chelanpud.org.
Each Power Hour episode will be uploaded to YouTube and to the Power Hour Podcast, available on Spotify and online for your listening pleasure.
Listen to this episode of the Power Hour Podcast:
Read the transcript of the Power Hour Podcast, episode 0:
Lacy: All right! We're here hanging out at Scott's place. He actually built this house, which is pretty awesome. We're here with Griselda Gonzalez, Sergio Sanchez, and Scott Stanford. We're going to introduce them one by one.
Lacy: Griselda, please tell us what you do.
Griselda: I'm Griselda Gonzalez, energy conservation rep at Chelan County PUD. So, mainly I work with processing rebate applications for residential customers. If you have any upgrades that you need to do to your house and submit an application, most likely it'll come to me. If you call the energy solutions team with any questions that you may have, I will be one of the persons answering the phone.
Lacy: Thank you! And we also have Sergio here. Serg, what do you do at Chelan County PUD?
Sergio: So, I'm an energy conservation specialist. When you call the energy solutions phone, I'm usually the first one that answers your call. And I help with processing applications. If you're interested in energy audit, you can always call me and book something with me.
Lacy: So, you guys are the energy solutions team. What does that mean?
Griselda: We offer customers the option to, like Sergio was saying, book an audit and that's mainly to save, or to look at possible ways of saving energy, which in hand that'll save you money in the long run. We'll give you the ideas of what you can do to your house to make it more comfortable and more energy efficient.
Lacy: Thanks, G! We're also going to do an introduction here of Scott Stanford. Scott, what do you do with the PUD?
Scott: I run all the commercial and industrial energy rebate programs. So, there's various things we do there you can all find on our website. But that's mainly what I do there.
Lacy: And what did you do in a past life?
Scott: Past life.... I was a contractor doing residential and light commercial for 20 something years.
Lacy: So, you have some intimate knowledge of how these stick build homes go together?
Scott: A little bit, yes.
Lacy: You also built the home that's right behind me. It's a beautiful home.
Scott: Yes, thank you.
Lacy: What kind of questions do people ask when they call the Energy Solutions Team?
Griselda: We get quite a few different questions but some of the most common ones that we get is for example, heat pumps: which contractors qualify for us to provide the customer rebate? Or what type of windows can they replace so the customer can apply for a rebate as well?
Lacy: Serg, what kind of questions do you end up seeing these days?
Sergio: Well, we hear a little bit about heat pumps. It's very popular right now, especially with the weather heating up. We also have people interested in energy audits. So they're wondering, you know, what they can do to make their home more efficient. There’s been heat pumps, windows, water heaters…a little bit of everything but mainly heat pumps is a huge question right now.
Lacy: It sounds like people are getting ready for summer. It's getting hot - you guys are frying. Thank you. I love you all for doing this. So, people want to know, "What's a more efficient way to cool and heat my home?" Heat pumps would be the answer, and there's a bunch of different kinds of heat pumps. We even have now, for commercial, we've got PTHP, so those in-hotel units or sometimes apartment buildings or assisted living.
Scott, what kind of questions are you hearing? It sounds like with commercial there's similar but sometimes different questions.
Scott: Yeah, the question I get the most is, "Do I even qualify or how do I qualify?" is what I get a lot of times from businesses. And it's pretty simple. If you have a commercial account with us, then you're going to qualify. Or industrial (account) as well.
The other question I get a lot is, "Do you know where I can find out more about these programs and how it works?" And that's right at our website. We've done a bunch of overhauls on our website this last year and so you can find everything there: frequently asked questions, videos, program requirements, applications...all that stuff's there.
So, those are probably two of the more common ones I get that aren't specific about a certain rebate or certain program.
Lacy: We do have a lot of information on our website. There's a ton of stuff also that's just know-how and advice and that kind of thing. So, I'm excited to have each of you on the Power Hour.
Next week is Scott Stanford. He's our commercial energy advisor and former home builder himself so he has a lot of great knowledge. Whether you own a small business or you're just looking for advice on how our rebates work or upgrades for your home. Getting ready for summer so that you guys can stay out of the sun a little bit. Get chilled off!
Anything else you want to share today about the Power Hour, happening Wednesdays starting next week May 19th, 5:30 p.m? Anything else?
Griselda: Just a quick reminder that it'll be bilingual as well. So that'll be the following week on May 26th. You can send us your questions ahead of time to conservation@chelanpud.org. You can go ahead and do that or, like Lacy said, you can chat during the Facebook Live.
Lacy: All right, great! You heard it here: Power Hour starting next Wednesday May 19th. Bilingual on the 26th. Every Wednesday at 5:30 pm. We hope to see you here. Bye!