PECO Tuesday announced it has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with an Energy Star Partner of the Year Award in Energy Efficiency Program Delivery, for its continued leadership in protecting the environment through energy efficiency efforts.

PECO is commended for its continuous contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by delivering information, services and products to its customers to increase energy efficiency.

“PECO sets the bar for promoting energy-efficient products and services that help Americans learn how to save money and energy while protecting the environment,” said Bob Perciasepe, acting administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “PECO’s program delivery methods demonstrate how communities across the nation can protect the climate through greater energy efficiency and provide a roadmap for future program implementers.”

This is the second year in a row that the PECO Smart Ideas program has been honored for its delivery of energy efficiency programs through comprehensive customer outreach and education, and marketing programs.

An Energy Star partner since 2008, PECO, along with sister Exelon companies BGE, based in Baltimore, and ComEd, based in Chicago, will be honored for its long-term commitment to energy efficiency at the EPA awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 2013.

“PECO is proud to be recognized by the EPA and to accept this award on behalf of our customers, who have truly made PECO Smart Ideas a successful program,” said Frank Jiruska, director of Energy and Marketing Services for PECO. “The success of this program is absolutely dependent upon customer participation and we have worked to proactively provide our customers with the tools they need to save energy and save money. We are pleased to accept this award on our customers’ behalf and share it with our employees who work tirelessly to design, implement and improve these programs.”

PECO Smart Ideas offers many programs to help residential, business, government, non-profit and institutional customers save energy and money. In total more than 450,000 customers have participated in PECO Smart Ideas.

Since its launch in October 2009, PECO customers have reduced their electricity use by more than 1,174,000 megawatt hours, saving more than $258 million through energy efficiency and PECO Smart Ideas rebates. This energy savings has the same environmental benefit as planting more than 1 million trees or not driving more than 1 billion miles.

In addition to the EPA award, the success of PECO Smart Ideas program has been recognized by energy industry leaders and other organizations. Some of the honors and awards include: E-source 2011 Best Radio Advertisement; and Chartwell 2010 Utility Best Practices Award for Marketing Excellence.

Over the last 20 years, with help from Energy Star, American families and businesses have saved more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

3/11/2013