Conservation for Sale

Corporate executives generally have difficulty understanding what John Phillips sells because it can’t be seen, held or tasted. Phillips, executive director of the California Energy Coalition, sells conservation in a big way.

Under a 15-year contract with Southern California Edison Co., the coalition offers member companies rebates on their electric bills. In exchange, members including TRW, Fluor, the Irvine Co., Koll Co. and Pacific Mutual Life Insurance agree to reduce their electricity use when a blistering-hot day or other calamity pushes Edison’s power plants to the limit.

TRW’s South Bay-based defense and aerospace group is one of the coalition’s newest members. “TRW sees an opportunity for cost savings, plus the company feels a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen,� a TRW spokesman said.

Since July, 1982, about a dozen Southern California businesses have joined and paid the coalition fees ranging from $8,000 to $150,000. The fees cover the coalition’s management costs and a detailed review of each company’s electric energy use. Coalition engineers install a microcomputer system at each company to monitor energy consumption. The information is fed into a central computer system in the coalition’s South Laguna office that links all the computers together with one at Edison.

“We don’t plan to need these companies to get through the summer, but they are there as a resource should we have an emergency,� said Tom Dossey, a senior load management analyst for Edison. If necessary, member companies could temporarily reduce their electric use by 25%--saving enough electricity to serve about 10,500 residential customers.

Employing various conservation measures on a daily basis, coalition members have already cut back daily electric use by 10%, Dossey said.

In 1984, Edison paid the coalition $319,000 in rebates, up from the $171,000 paid in 1983. And, Edison has never called on members to reduce their electric use in an emergency.

Phillips’ ambitious 10-year goal is to eliminate the need for 2,500 megawatts of new generating capacity in California--the equivalent of two new nuclear plants. California ratepayers could save about $10 billion by not building those two nuclear power plants, Phillips said. “It’s a preventive-medicine program where you are paid to prevent the problem,� said Phillips, adding that most coalition members recoup their initial investment in the program within six months to a year.