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Allegheny Power is rolling out an advertising campaign to popularize its Watt Watchers Program, offering incentives to Maryland customers to buy energy-efficient appliances and use less power.

Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Allegheny Power, said the program is part of the state-mandated EmPower Maryland Energy Efficiency Act of 2008, which targets a 15 percent reduction in energy use statewide by 2015.

The programs will cost Allegheny $15 million per year, though customers are paying for the program through a surcharge on their bills, Meyers said. This should work out to about 63 cents per 1,000 kilowatt hours, he said.

However, this will allow for programs that will grant rebates for more energy-efficient appliances, the recycling of old appliances, and for energy "audits" of participants' homes, which would show ways to use power more efficiently.

Meyers said the savings from this program would "eclipse" the cost of the surcharge. "There really is something for everyone," he said.

Meyers gave the example of a $35 rebate on an energy-efficient refrigerator and a $50 rebate for recycling old refrigerators. "That's $85 [in savings] right there," he said.

Meyers said that about 500 customers in Maryland had already used the rebates, with clothes washers and driers being the most popular purchases.

Opponents of the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH, have advocated for energy conservation as a means to reduce the need for the power line. PATH is a 275-mile power line that originates at a substation in southern West Virginia and end at a proposed 50-acre substation near Mount Airy, called the Kemptown Substation.

PATH will serve PJM Interconnection, a regional organization that coordinates power transmission in 13 states, including those through which it passes, and Washington, D.C.

However, some residents of southern Frederick County have expressed concerns that the power line could damage the environment, reduce property values and threaten the health of people living near it.

Ginny MacColl, a member of the Citizens Against the Kemptown Substation, a group of Mount Airy residents opposed to PATH, said that participating in energy demand-response programs that could

She did not comment directly on the Watt Watchers rebate program.

"If a majority of the population participated in some sort of energy demand response program, the state could retain the same peak demand in 2019 as we had in 2009," MacColl wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette. "Therefore, new transmission lines are not needed to import more energy. What a great concept!"

Doug Kaplan, president of the Sugarloaf Conservancy, said he agreed that using less power would save money and would benefit the environment. "The idea of reducing energy consumption is wonderful," he said.

However, he questioned the actual savings customers would get from the program, and said only people who would be in the market for new appliances were likely to participate.

He said he could consider participating in the Watt Watchers Program, but he would have to weigh the savings versus the amount of money spent on a new appliance. He said that a $50 rebate on a $1,000 refrigerator is not a great incentive.

"I'm not saying it won't help. ... I just don't see it having a dramatic impact," he said.

E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.

Want to learn more?

Visit www.alleghenypower.com, and click on the Watt Watchers icon.