Raleigh, N.C. ? Amy Swanson is finally figuring out the real cost of electricity.

Swanson, a Cary, N.C., homemaker, uses a wireless monitor that shows how much energy her home uses at any given moment. The device takes the mystery out of energy costs by translating kilowatts into cents.

The monitor’s energy-saving concept is simple: People are less likely to run the clothes dryer for just one pair of socks, and they’ll ease up on the air conditioner if they can see its cost. In three weeks, the gadget caused Swanson to modify her lifestyle.

“Pretty much every time I walk by, I glance at it to see what it says,” said Swanson, who has two young daughters. “I think sometimes I’m too aware. My husband says I’m obsessed with it. When the numbers increase, I say, ‘What’s on? What are we running?”‘

Swanson is among 800-plus Progress Energy customers who have volunteered to test conservation methods this year. The Raleigh utility is trying to see whether such energy-saving efforts could delay or offset the need to build power plants.

The pilot programs are part of a push by Progress Energy and Duke Energy to help customers conserve energy. Both utilities say that customers are demanding these programs to reduce energy waste and fight global warming.

So Progress Energy has signed up guinea pigs who will let the company remotely raise their thermostat settings and shut off water heaters during times of peak demand. Progress also is sealing up leaking heating and air conditioning ducts.

Enlisting volunteers

Melvin Good, a retiree who lives in North Raleigh, volunteered to try out the remotely controlled thermostat.

In the six weeks Good has had the thermostat, Progress Energy has cut off the power to his home air conditioner twice – for one hour on a cool morning last week, and again for an hour on a 96-degree day.

Good said he wouldn’t have known if it hadn’t been for the thermostat: It flashes a message saying it has been remotely shut off.

“We don’t have to do a thing but just sit back and let them do all the work,” he said.

Through this testing, Progress hopes to gauge the potential cost and savings of a conservation program. Company officials say customers who seal ducts, buy efficient appliances and take other steps can save 15 percent on their bills.

Swanson is enthralled with her monitor.

The gadget shows that with no major appliances running, her home uses 2 cents to 3 cents of power per hour. But when she turns on the clothes dryer while the air conditioner is running, the juice can flow at a rate of $1 an hour.

In the three weeks that she has had the monitor, Swanson has turned up both her thermostats to 77 degrees from 75 degrees. And after she saw the monitor increase to a rate of $1.03 an hour, she put off running the clothes dryer until evening, when it’s cooler and the air conditioning is not running as often.

Not that it has saved her any money. Like most residential customers, her family pays a flat summertime rate of 9.5 cents a kilowatt hour, no matter when electricity is used.

Comforting changes

Still, her response points to the complexity of designing an effective energy conservation program. Some changes in consumer habits may do nothing more than make a customer feel better.

“I save nothing, I know,” Swanson said. “It’s all psychological.”

In Canada, such monitors helped customers save 6.5 percent on average.

Progress Energy won’t know how much the energy monitors are saving in North Carolina until the 12-month experiment ends next year and results are analyzed.

Wake Forest retiree Joe Wagner is also testing the device. Since it was installed about three weeks ago in his 4,000-square-foot home, Wagner has seen the display rise to 91 cents an hour when the air conditioner and clothes dryer are on. Like Swanson, he has opted to dry clothes in the evening to keep the display numbers lower.

Running a major appliance at night is not without its benefits. It helps to moderate energy demand by shifting the system’s power load to off-peak electricity, which could ultimately result in Progress Energy building fewer power plants.

The monitor has also motivated Wagner to add two fan vents in his attic to remove hot air that could trigger the air conditioner to run more often.

“I do pay the bills out of my pension, so it concerns me a lot,” he said. “If I can save a little on my air conditioner bills, I’m going to.”