ATLANTA -
El Paso Electric (NYSE: EE) has expanded its Website to include a new
Home
EnergySuite
™ -- a series of
customized energy efficiency tools developed by Apogee Interactive to
address the region
’s unique weather,
evaporative air conditioning, swimming pools and spas.
These energy analysis tools provide insights on year-round energy use,
but they’ll prove especially helpful as El
Paso area residents prepare for summer. “Our
mild winters tend to moderate home heating needs, so national “off-the-shelf”
energy calculators were likely to miss the mark for our customers’
heating and cooling energy use patterns,” said
Helen Knopp, vice president of public affairs for El Paso Electric. “Our
dry desert heat makes evaporative cooling the standard for this area.
Apogee was eager to model these varying energy characteristics and
customize its Web-based tools to provide further energy-saving insights
to our customers.”
The HomeEnergySuite offers a full array of evaluation tools
including a home energy calculator, appliance calculator, lighting
calculator, interactive cut-away house, and comprehensive energy
reference library.
The suite’s flagship tool –
the HomeEnergyCalculator -- starts with select data points provided by
the customer, including whether or not they use evaporative cooling, a
pool and a spa, and draws upon local weather data, El Paso Electric’s
energy prices and Apogee’s proprietary energy
analysis system to produce a quick and accurate view of the home’s
energy consumption and costs. Customers can then modify their data
inputs to see the impact and savings possible with various equipment or
usage changes.
Consumers can dig deeper by “walking through”
an interactive cut-away house to learn more about home energy
consumption room by room. Separate appliance and lighting calculators
provide down-to-the-penny energy costs for nearly 50 appliances,
electronic devices and lighting options-- everything from compact
fluorescent light bulbs and whirlpool tubs to big screen plasma TVs and
side-by-side refrigerators.
El Paso Electric also elected to add Apogee’s
Kids Korner as a part of its online energy efficiency information
expansion. This fun-filled, interactive section covers all aspects of
energy production and use, from Thomas Edison and solar power to
electrical safety and utility industry careers.
“El Paso Electric’s
service area presented a new challenge for us and we are pleased to
bring a new level of precision to our HomeEnergySuite that
addresses unique heating and cooling systems, pools and spa equipment,”
said Susan Gilbert, president and chief executive officer of Apogee.
Apogee Interactive, Inc. is a
leading provider of online solutions for the energy industry. Founded in
1994, Apogee's web-based content and energy-use analysis tools reach
millions of energy consumers daily. Customers comprise a wide range of
energy utilities such as American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), Entergy
(NYSE: ETR), FPL (NYSE: FPL), Silicon Valley Power, Pasadena Water and
Power, and Jackson EMC. The company also provides eLearning systems,
call center programs and demand response platforms to utilities and
their trade associations. Apogee Interactive is a certified women’s
business enterprise through the Women’s
Business Enterprise National Council.
El Paso Electric is a regional
electric utility providing generation, transmission and distribution
service to approximately 347,000 retail and wholesale customers in a
10,000 square mile area of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and
southern New Mexico. EPE has a net installed generation capacity of
approximately 1,500 MW. EPE’s common stock
trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EE.
Apogee Interactive, Inc.
Karen Morris, 770-270-6501
or
El
Paso Electric
Teresa Souza, 915-543-5823
