Golden, Colo.—Delta-Montrose Electric Association's innovative GeoExchange program and marketing concept led Western Area Power Administration to honor the utility with its Administrator's Award for Energy Services.

Joel Bladow, Western's Rocky Mountain Regional manager, presented the award to the DMEA Board of Directors, Aug. 25.

"The Delta-Montrose Electric Association has not only responded to considerable change, but has also offered new services and business opportunities to meet customer needs," Bladow said in presenting the award. "This strong business ethic, centered on their customers and community, is a great example of what it will take to remain competitive in the deregulated utility industry."

The program that led to the award promotes the use of geothermal heating and cooling for residential and commercial heating and cooling requirements.

GeoExchange systems are "the most environmentally friendly heating and cooling systems available," said Paul Bony, DMEA marketing manager. While traditional furnaces create heat by burning a fuel, a geothermal system collects the Earth's natural heat through a series of pipes, or loops, installed underground or in a pond or lake.

Fluid in the loops carries heat from the ground into the home, where electrically driven compressors and heat exchangers concentrate the energy and release it at a higher temperature inside the home. The same equipment provides cooling in the summer, when the process is reversed. The geothermal system draws heat from the home and expels it to the loop, where the earth absorbs it. The system cools by removing heat from the home's interior.

Studies show that geothermal systems derive about 70 percent of their energy from the ground. The other 30 percent is electricity that concentrates heat and moves it from the ground to the home.

Geothermal systems have a higher initial cost than traditional heating and cooling systems, leading DMEA to introduce a European concept in marketing the technology. Under its chauffage (French for heat) program, DMEA agrees to buy, install, and maintain space conditioning equipment in a customer's home or business. The customer then pays a flat monthly fee for energy services, instead of a kilowatthour charge as with a traditional utility bill.

DMEA's chauffage program is currently in its pilot phase, primarily at 2 new subdivisions in Montrose called Sunrise Creek and Otter Pond. The program will be open to all DMEA customers in early 1999. The utility will start signing up pilot customers in October.

Western Area Power Administration is one of four power marketing administrations in the U.S. Department of Energy. Western markets and transmits hydroelectric power in a 15-state area of the central and western United States.

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