Hmmm...don't they usually save you with their multiple weekly annual power outages Lights out.

Pepco is doing what DC/Maryland governments have legislated it to do. A portion of everyone's electric bill goes into an energy conservation fund and the money goes to energy saving measures like lightbulbs, discounted energy audits, rebates for efficient equipment and comprehensive building retrofits.

It is far from being a comprehensive energy policy much less taking on our culture of consumption. But it's something.

Empower Maryland Program:
http://www.mdhomeperformance.org/
http://energy.maryland.gov/facts/empower.html

DC Home Performance:
http://www.dcseu.com/for_your_home/DC_home_performance

I got one of those free energy audits and got a 50-page report from the auditor. It was pretty thorough - they looked at all the air leaks, windows, etc. - not just the light bulbs.

Curious, what are your electric and gas bills for one year?

From what I hear, the company that does energy audits also look at insulation, windows, roof. Maybe someone who has done an audit can chime in.

You know the answer to your question about the McMansions. If energy costs were higher, maybe the McMansions would not be built as large as they are.

Is changing out a couple of light bulbs going to really do that much? Are they going to go so those big McMansions and suggest they reduce the size of their houses? It seems to me my 1000 sq ft house doesn't use half as much energy as 4000 sq foot big houses. Are they going to ask those people to just change their light bulbs or are they going to address the bigger cost saving and energy reduction in moving to a smaller house or putting 2 or 3 families in those big houses?

Just a though. It does seem ludicrous to concentrate on such a small saving in my tiny house when there is a big elephant in the room of those huge houses using who knows how much energy.