BLUEBONNET’S WEBSITE AWARENES TO PROMOTE ONLINE TOOLS AND GIVEAWAYS

  

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative wants its members to learn about all of the efficient, time-saving, information-rich features available on its website, bluebonnet.coop. To emphasize the point, co-op members who learn about and use the website features will be entered to win top-quality giveaway prizes throughout the year.

This month and next, Bluebonnet is urging members to switch to paperless billing. The co-op mails almost 63,000 paper bills a month. Each paper bill costs 55 cents to produce and mail. Co-op members are paying $415,800 a year for paper bills. That is the equivalent of nearly 300 mature trees.

Any member who goes paperless (or has already gone paperless) before June 1, 2015, will be entered in a drawing to win one of three $250 gift certificates from area tree nurseries and a $100 gift card from a home improvement store. The co-op’s website was redesigned last year, and improvements have been added since then that make doing business online with Bluebonnet even more simple and user-friendly.

Among the most powerful features on bluebonnet.coop is the Energy Tracking Tool, which is available to any co-op member with an online account. When a member logs in, he or she immediately can study an online graph and see the details of their power use and costs, down to the hour, day, billing period or year. A red fever line on the chart shows users the temperatures at that time, allowing members to see how temperatures impact their power use.

Armed with that data, Bluebonnet members can see patterns, adjust habits, identify the cause of energy spikes and develop ways to control energy use and lower bills.

“This powerful tool provides our members detailed information about how and when they use energy,” said Mark Rose, Bluebonnet’s general manager. “With this knowledge they can make informed decisions about their electric use and costs based on their lifestyles and preferences. More than 33,400 members have online accounts and access to this information whenever they log in.

“But thousands of members haven’t signed up and can’t see this invaluable information. We are reaching out to inform them of this technology that will empower them to take control of their energy use and lower their bills,” Rose said.

In March, Bluebonnet urged its members to study their energy use with the online Energy Tracking Tool. Those who offered comments were entered in a drawing to win one of four “smart” remotely controllable Wi-Fi thermostats.

The four winners of two Nest and two Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats are John Spiess of Welcome, Denise Pardo of Martindale, Laurie Craig of Manor and Abby Carr, an employee of VeriTrust, an information services company with an office in San Marcos.

Keep up with Bluebonnet’s website awareness campaign throughout the year by going to bluebonnet.coop and clicking on the home page icon promoting that month’s online tool and the giveaway. In coming months, Bluebonnet will promote various ways to report outages online, to create online accounts, set up recurring payments, request services and download the co-op’s mobile app. Questions? Email memberservices@bluebonnet.coop or call 800-842-7708.