**Title**: Energy in the North - Connie Fredenberg
**Date**: December 18, 2024
**Participants**: Amanda Byrd, Connie Fredenberg

00;00;01;04 - 00;00;02;22 [Connie Fredenberg] If you have prepaid meters, as far as people with not much money, that's the best way assure that the utility gets paid and the customer doesn't exceed their budget.

00;00;10;21 - 00;00;13;27 [Amanda Byrd] This week on Energy in the North, I speak with Connie Fredenberg. Connie is the community relations manager for Utility Management Assistance, a company that helps remote microgrid utilities apply for the power cost equalization program. A subsidy that helps remote community electricity costs be closer to those of the Alaska Railbelt. Connie also helps residents of those communities stay within their subsidized power limit of 750 kilowatt hours a month. In 2008 with Clarissa Quinlan, Connie started installing  prepaid electricity meters into the homes of the residents in over 40 communities around Alaska. Amazingly, these meters are still working. And while we were sitting on my mum's veranda in Sydney, Australia, I asked Connie what the benefits of the prepaid meters are to the residents.

00;00;57;22 - 00;01;05;29 [Connie Fredenberg] Traditionally you wait one month and then it's all surprise here's how much your electric bill is and now you have to pay the whole thing. Whereas with prepaid, you turn your own self off. So you can go in the office as often as you need to. If you can only come up with $25 today. Well, there and you've got a little bit more power to hold you over and then you can find another $20 in pay. So it alleviates that getting a big surprise bill at the end of the month you know, you either be able to pay or you get your lights turned off - if you belong to a utility, that will do that. 

And there's a device that would go inside the house called a customer information unit. So you take your card to the utility office, you put money on the card, you bring it home and you put it into this device. And then you watch your money go backwards. And so you can see how much money you've got left. And there's a button you can push to scroll through different pieces of information so you know exactly how much you're paying per kilowatt hour. So, you know, if you're still under the limit to have PCE or if you've passed that limit. It used to be 500 kilowatts, now it's 750. But you can also see exactly what you've got on right now, how much that's costing you. So what I would do when I installed the meters was have people turn everything off in their house and push that button. There's always some background, you know, power being used. So there's a small amount showing that you're using. But then I'd have them turn things on one at a time, like the electric oven or the electric water heater, an electric heater, things that use a lot of power so that they could see, I think that would be a big incentive to people. And if you have prepaid meters, as far as people with not much money, that's the best way I think, to assure that the utility gets paid and the customer doesn't exceed their budget.

00;02;45;24 - 00;02;49;18 [Amanda Byrd] And, so you mentioned PCE - power cost equalization. That's like a subsidy that comes from the state to the utility. But it's passed through to the
 resident and the residents get a top limit to their PCE amount.

00;03;02;04 - 00;03;09;20 [Connie Fredenberg] They first set the limit at 500. And just recently, maybe two years ago, I think they changed it to 750. And at first, I have to say I was like, wait, I've been trying for years to help people stay below 500. And now they've raised it. That seemed to be counterintuitive to me. Why would you do that? Air source, Heat pumps. That's the reason they upped it was because a lot of communities were starting to look at those to conserve diesel fuel in the village. And I think that's a wonderful idea. Now, most people still don't go that high. In fact, personally, I make sure I never use more than 500 kilowatt hours at my own house. I don't want to tell other people what to do and not be able to replicate it myself and prove that it's possible.

00;03;46;07 - 00;03;54;29 [Amanda Byrd] Connie Fredenberg is the community relations manager for Utility Management Assistance. And I'm Amanda Byrd, chief storyteller for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. Find this story and more at uaf.edu/acep.