City has plan to save you money on power

(4/28/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- It's a question we're all asking these days -- how can we save money on our energy bills? For the city of Houston, the answer just might be blowing in the wind.

Wind energy is one of those ideas that sounds good, but a lot of folks aren't quite ready to invest their money in it. Well, the folks at Houston city hall apparently are.

Electricity will cost the city of Houston $130 million this year. That's $30 million more than last year because of rising natural gas costs. But now, the city tells us it has a plan to spend its way to a lower power bill.

You depend on the city to keep the stop lights on, get your garbage picked up, and keep the water running.

So then why is the city asking for a $50 million loan to build windmills? They could be 17 huge windmills, each of them almost 400 feet tall to generate power the city would use for itself.

"If you can get a renewable source of energy where there's no pollution, we ought to go for it," said Mayor White.

The proposed city of Houston wind farm on top of downtown Houston would take three square miles. Don't worry. It won't be built in downtown, but 250 miles away in Kennedy County. The windmills would connect to the Texas power grid, which runs all over the state, so Houston could grab the wind electricity here.

"It's a money saver if you pay less on your energy bills," said Mayor White.

And it could save money if natural gas prices stay as high as they've been. Most electricity is made with natural gas, which as you know from your own bills, shot way up in price after Hurricane Katrina.

They've since come down, but in the last 12 months, Houston's natural gas electricity ranged in price from 14 cents per kilowatt hour right after Katrina to six cents today. Wind energy is a steady six cents - today, tomorrow, and for years in the future.

"Break even or save the city money on what it would pay on its energy bills," said Mayor White.

The city's application is still with the IRS, which needs to approve it. Then city council votes on the plan. If that goes well, the windmills could turn in 2008.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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