May the power be with you.

ITEM Episcopal House, a 140-unit senior living high-rise facility in Reading, PA, was in a cash crunch due to some HUD restrictions and was falling short in paying its electrical bills. Metropolitan Edison Company, the local utility, had the option under the rules of the game to remove Episcopal House from their customer base, and the facility's board of directors was considering going "all-gas" as an option. But Episcopal House is still a customer in good standing with Met Ed, is getting more efficient production from its heating equipment and yet is saving on energy costs -- thanks to Met Ed.

ITEM Magnolia Manor, a long-term care facility based in Americus, GA, combining a nursing home, assisted living and retirement community, processes about 80,000 pounds of laundry a month (for the 200-bed nursing home), and plans to do laundry for all its components in the near future. Anxious to keep these costs under control, Magnolia Manor may have found a solution: ozonation. Starting only this June, ozonating the laundry has already led to major cost reductions for energy use, water use and detergents. This process, the first application of its kind in a nursing home, came to Magnolia Manor courtesy of the Georgia Power Company.

Collaborations like these are not unusual, says Keith Voight, Director of Communications for the Edison Electric Institute. The Institute's members, i.e., the investor-owned companies that produce 80% of the electrical power used in America, are in a customer-service mode these days, says Voight. "It is a way of keeping customers. The companies realize that energy costs can be the difference between a large customer staying as a customer or relocating to a lower-cost area." Alternative energy sources, such as gas, are competing for their markets, too, another reason why extending a helping hand to valued customers makes good business sense to the power companies.

The services available range from helping customers plan their energy budgets better, to special rates, to informing them about cost-effective new equipment, to helping them install and even pay for that equipment.

How does the process work? Let's take a closer look at those two facilities mentioned earlier, starting with perhaps the more "newsy" of the two, the Magnolia Manor ozonation project. Ozone is a major "dirt-buster." Used for decades in some water purification systems, it has been shown to kill bacteria -- all forms of bacteria -- up to 3,000 times faster than chlorine, and it eradicates viruses even faster. Applied to laundry, it vastly reduces need for cleaning chemicals and hot water, does not require separation of colors from whites, and significantly improves deodorization.

No change is required in the facility's standard washers and dryers, while the ozonation equipment itself requires relatively modest space (see diagram) -- essentially, a wall-mounted ozone generating box, a 5- by 12-foot ozonated water storage tank, some filtering and a "polishing" tank to further purify the effluent.

Ozonation requires electric power, thus explaining Georgia Power's interest in the process. Seeking to develop the health care market, the company sought out a test facility of requisite size and laundry loads. Enter, Magnolia Manor.

Installation of the equipment was expensive -- over $40,000. But the anticipated savings in cleaning chemicals, wash and dry times, and hot water usage are expected to compensate for that in two years, according to Bob Howard, Magnolia Manor's director of maintenance. For example, he notes, "We've reduced the wash cycle from an hour to 37 minutes and have already saved over $1,600 in detergent costs. We reduced water temperature from 180 degrees to 110 degrees, and if we can move to a closed-loop system where you can reuse the ozonated water, we'll reduce our water usage even more." Percentage-wise, the early numbers are even more impressive: a 70% reduction in energy use, a 70% reduction in detergent costs and a 20% reduction in water use.

Of course, ozone is not something one would want wafting around one's living quarters. How safe is this? "We have no concerns," says Howard. "The ozone doesn't get into the air with this system, and doesn't stay in the water very long."

So it's cheaper and safe -- but how does the laundry come out? "It's whiter and softer," says Howard. "In fact, we're now moving to do residents' clothing items, as well."

Georgia Power's Thomas B. Landers, PE, Health Care Segment Executive for the company and spearhead for the project, notes that Magnolia Manor's experience is being closely monitored, and definitive cost results should be available in a few months. "You need the right-sized operation -- I can't see, for example, how a facility of 100 beds or less might make this pay off -- but larger facilities probably stand to save at least 25% in their overall laundry costs," notes Landers.

Meanwhile, Episcopal House has saved on costs, and Met Ed has saved a customer, with revisions to that facility's hot water heating system -- more specifically, a water-source heat pump system. The system was working hardest during the peak rate daytime hours and the facility's electric bills were spiralling out of control. "Our facility was built in 1972," says executive director Douglas Peterson, "which, if you recall, was just prior to the infamous Arab oil embargo. In a way, it was a good thing that we got into a cash crunch, because it forced us to come up with ways to economize."

"A power company always has a vested interest in helping its customers pay their bills on time," says Robert Gallo, Met Ed's support engineer for major accounts. And there was added incentive, as well, in the facility's considering going to gas heating. Met Ed stepped in with two major recommendations.

One was a special seasonal rate which evened out the unit costs between summer (typically low unit cost for heating purposes) and winter (typically high cost). This leveled out the facility's utilities budgeting and enabled it to better afford winter heating. The second: a technical restructuring of the facility's boiler system so that the heating elements were used more efficiently during the daytime hours. The controls needed cost $400; the estimated savings are ranging around $7,500 a year.

Met Ed also suggested incorporation of updated, more cost-efficient water heater elements and 24-hour lighting equipment (e.g., for signs, etc.) Episcopal House plans to follow through as its budget allows.

"I can't say enough about Bob Gallo," says Peterson. "He provided excellent service and was very solicitous of us."

And if you're still not convinced of the possibilities, there's the story of Fairhaven Retirement Center, of Birmingham, AL, and an HVAC system that had a good many residents hot under the collar. A sizable structure incorporating independent living apartments, assisted living units and a skilled nursing facility, it often required heating on one side and cooling on the other -- a difficult challenge for any HVAC system, and impossible for the one that they had. And if residents weren't complaining, the system itself was losing Freon (very expensive to replace) or springing leaks, causing severe water damage. It was obviously time for a change, but change seemed just too expensive.

The Alabama Power Company recommended a new HVAC system for the 80-unit assisted living section, allowing individual room controls. The company also provided a cash incentive of $1 per added kilowatt that reduced the initial electric bills, and even went so far as to help line up contractors to bid on the project.

Though the initial cost was high -- Methodist Homes for the Aging, Fairhaven's parent corporation, had to borrow over $300,000 -- payback shouldn't be long in coming. According to Wray Tomlin, Methodist's chief executive officer, the combined savings on electric power, maintenance and repairs is adding up to about $25,000 a year. "The equipment has worked beautifully, and we're happy we did it before this hot summer we've had."

In short, today's cost-saving energy technology could prove to be an excellent investment -- and finding out doesn't take much more than a call to your local utility's commercial marketing department.