Avista Corp. is expanding its education programs aimed at conserving energy and trimming customers' utility bills.

The Spokane-based energy company has joined a new campaign to promote awareness of so-called "super energy-efficient" televisions, adding it to online programs it had launched earlier to help customers analyze their power bills and self-audit their home-energy use, says Debbie Simock, an Avista spokeswoman.

For those who are considering buying new TVs, Avista and other Pacific Northwest utilities are working with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) to identify TVs at the retail level that are super energy-efficient, meaning they exceed Energy Star standards by at least 30 percent, during the Christmas shopping season.

The nonprofit NEEA, funded by Northwest electric utilities, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the Energy Trust of Oregon, encourages development and use of energy-efficient products and services. Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that sets standards for identifying energy-efficient products. The new TV program, called Save More, raises the bar for energy-efficient TVs significantly higher than the Energy Star standards, Simock says. Consumers can identify super-efficient TVs by triangular green Save More labels on them. In the Spokane area, the label includes Avista's logo.

NEEA says there are about 12.5 million TVs in the Northwest, and they use an average of 4 percent of the energy consumed per household. Add accessories such as a home-theater sound system, a digital video recorder, and a gaming console, and those devices can account for up to 10 percent of household energy use, Simock says. Some plasma TVs alone, for example, use more energy than two full-sized refrigerators, she adds.

Reducing TV energy consumption by more than 30 percent, as the Save More program calls for, is a significant single source of potential conservation among residential consumers, Simock says.

Prices for Energy Star TVs with and without the Save More label tend to be comparable in small to medium screen sizes, but Save More sets can be more expensive in larger screen sizes than those without the super energy-efficient technology, she says.

Super-energy efficient TVs aren't included in Avista and government rebate and incentive programs. Over the life of such a set, however, a Save More-rated TV would be less expensive due to energy savings, compared with a less-efficient model, Simock says.

Avista's free online home-energy audit, which the company announced last month, is designed to help customers analyze their energy use and learn ways to make their home more energy efficient, Simock says.

A series of questions about the size of a home, the age of the appliances a customer has, and improvements to the home helps customize the audit, which in turn helps customers learn how they use energy and how their usage compares to that of others who own homes of similar size.

The audit suggests actions residential customers can take to improve energy efficiency, such as by replacing clothes dryers or furnaces with more efficient models.

It also provides low-cost and no-cost steps that can be taken to reduce home energy use, such as by eliminating air leaks around electrical sockets and fireplaces, using fans instead of air-conditioning to cool their homes in some situations, and using a microwave or other small cooking appliance, rather than the stove, to cook or heat smaller meals.

The online audit also links to an Avista Web page that describes some of the rebates and incentives available to customers who make certain energy-efficiency improvements to their homes, such as installing some types of windows, furnaces, and insulation.

Simock says customer requests for home-improvement incentive rebates are up sharply this year, compared with last year, when they also rose significantly. Avista offers rebates for qualifying high-efficiency equipment, ranging from $1,500 for installation of a ground-source heat pump to 25 cents a square foot for installation of attic insulation.

The online bill analyzer, which the company also announced last month, leads a customer through a series of questions that helps the customer calculate the effects of how variations in weather, types of appliances in a home, living habits, and the number of days in a billing cycle can affect energy usage. The results can be compared with analyses of previous bills to help explain why one month's bill might be higher or lower than another month's bill.

The analyzer has separate calculators that help account for variations in energy use depending on lighting, cooling, heating, and different types and models of appliances. Like the home-energy audit, it also offers suggestions to conserve energy and to lower bills.

Simock says the bill analyzer gives customers more details about their energy consumption than their monthly bills provide.