Avista Utilities has reduced to $99 the price of the home energy audits it began offering earlier this year, and its customers are responding to the reduction.

The Spokane utility notified customers in certain Spokane ZIP codes of the price change in an e-mail "blast" Oct. 1, and in the following week roughly 100 customers applied to have the audits done, says Joe Brabeck, Avista's manager of the home-audit program. That's nearly as many customers as had applied since the program was announced in late April, he says.

"Getting it below $100 seems to be a price point that has struck home with a lot of people," says Brabeck.

Up till now, the price of one of the audits for most Spokane County residents was $150, although in some areas of the county, where municipalities didn't participate in the program or where residents weren't Avista customers, the price ranged up to $325. Overall, the price still was 20 percent to 60 percent less than the typical commercial charge for such an audit, thanks to subsidies from Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley, Avista says.

The three governments have agreed to support the audits with nearly $700,000 in federal stimulus money. Avista is matching the funds through its energy efficiency initiative, for which the utility collects money through its power rates.

As of Oct. 8, some 134 of the home energy audits had been completed, with 44 done in unincorporated Spokane County, 83 in the city of Spokane, six in Spokane Valley, and one in Spangle, Wash., Brabeck says. Another 30 to 35 applications had been received.

The audits are done by one of five companies certified by Avista. Among other things, the auditor depressurizes a home so leaks that pull in air from the outside can be found more easily. During an audit, the company will install weather stripping and door sweeps, demonstrate how to install foam gaskets behind the covers of electrical outlets and switch plates, leave behind a package of items such as compact fluorescent lightbulbs and low-flow showerheads, and also conduct safety checks. After Avista energy engineers review information gathered in the audit, the customer receives a report that might include other recommended improvements.

Meanwhile, Avista is working to complete contracts with banks and credit unions that would make low-interest loans through a revolving fund to customers that want to finance energy-efficiency improvements to their homes, Brabeck says. The company announced last year that it would receive $1 million in stimulus money from the Washington state Department of Commerce credit enhancement program to establish the loan fund. The Spokane nonprofit Sustainable Local Investment Partners will administer the program. To qualify for it, a customer must have had an energy audit.

Avista knew from the start that it might be difficult to get residential customers to apply for energy audits, Brabeck says.

"We launched this thing going into our non-heating season," when utility bills aren't on people's minds as much as they are during the winter, he says. Also, last winter was mild, natural gas prices had fallen, and the lackluster economy made people reluctant to spend money, he says. Now, "a lot of things are coming together all at once," he says.