Huge turnouts for March CFL giveaways

They say statistics don’t lie.

If that’s the case, then the second wave of Mississippi Power’s compact fluorescent light bulb giveaways, as part of the company’s Energy Efficient Lighting Program, was a big hit with customers across the company’s service territory.

“The spring 2015 CFL giveaway was a tremendous success,” said Ben Doughman, Mississippi Power’s Energy Efficiency team leader. “The customer turnout was fantastic.”

During March, 27,650 CFL bulbs were distributed at 16 Customer Service offices. That compares to the 19,350 bulbs handed out during the first round of giveaways last fall .

Connie Van Zile, a Mississippi Power Energy Efficiency associate, organized the giveaway and was thankful for the volunteer efforts from employees during the event.

“Almost every customer that received a box of CFLs had something good to say about the program,” Van Zile said. “Each office had its own challenges, from limited space, crowd or traffic control, to bulb delivery issues, but through it all everyone stepped up and made it all come together.”

CFLs use up to 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. That means customers using CFLs will save enough energy over the next year to power 54 homes for an entire year.

Customers say they appreciated the giveaways as well as the savings.

“I heard you’re having programs to help your customers save energy. I like this,” said one customer after receiving her box of CFLs. “Thanks so much. I need the bulbs, anything to save me money.”

The spring CFL giveaways, along with additional advertising running during the season of the Customer Value Benchmark Survey, are focused on reminding customers that Mississippi Power is taking steps to help them save money and energy.

The next round of CFL giveaways is scheduled for October.