The Rock Island/OPALCO Smart Energy Plan allows you to invest in two important upgrades at the same time. With this unique program, you can add both fiber optic internet (FTTP) and smart home technology to your home or business. Best of all, you can finance the cost on your OPALCO power bill at 2% interest over 10 years. You will see your monthly Smart Energy fee as a separate line on your monthly OPALCO bill for the duration of the program.
Fiber to the Home/Business + Energy Efficient Smart Home Item = Smart Energy
To give you an idea of how these costs could look, we’ve supplied a simple chart of monthly payment amounts for a variety of project costs levels:
| Total Project Cost | Monthly OPALCO Fee |
| $5,000 | $46.01 |
| $7,500 | $69.01 |
| $10,000 | $92.01 |
| $15,000 | $138.02 |
Awareness Is Eye-Opening; Action is Essential
It can be eye-opening to see how you use the power in your home. From the all-day consumers to the things that use an intense amount of power just a few times a day, understanding how the power in your home is consumed can help you make educated decisions about your energy usage. Those decisions can help the environment and keep money in your pocketbook.
Just looking at national numbers can be enlightening. Below is a chart of national home averages as collected by the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) overlaid with the average OPALCO power bill in San Juan County.
The average home uses about 12,000 kWh a year which equates to about $1,900 in power bills. By smartening up your home, and connecting it to the internet, it’s possible to save over 30% (see the blue area above). Sound interesting?
If so, the OPALCO/Rock Island Smart Energy program is designed to get you or keep you moving forward on your journey to know how you use power every month – and provide you with the tools and devices you need to navigate your energy future.
Part 1: Fiber Optic Internet to Your Home or Business
People all over the county have been hooking up to the Rock Island fiber network for the past few years. Over 2,000 of them now have access to internet speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps and more if needed. We have been involved in this significant effort and now you can join too. Fiber to the premise means we can bring fiber internet to your home, business, shop or dock.
Part 2: Smart Home Technology
We’ve started this program with a smart device that can single-handedly save your 30-50% off your energy bill – a smart thermostat.
Heating is usually the biggest cost on a power bill; usually over half in fact. Adding a smart thermostat can help you manage your heating cost in several ways. Most importantly, the energy and cost savings are significant. In some of the cases we’ve looked at so far, the energy savings has even outweighed the increased cost of the Smart Energy program, making your fiber and smart device cost neutral – and you get to keep all the other advantages.
Here are some thermostat examples based on brand-specific claims:
| Smart Electric Thermostats | Heating Savings (%) | Cooling Savings (%) | Annual Savings ($) | Monthly Savings ($) |
| Mysa | 26% | n/a | $494 | $41 |
| Stelpro | 30% | n/a | $570 | $47 |
| Nest | 12% | 15% | $228 | $19 |
| Ecobee | 23% | 23% | $437 | $36 |
Interested In Learning More?
Please complete the following form to learn more about the OPALCO/Rock Island Smart Energy program and if it works for you.
The OPALCO/Rock Island Smart Energy program is and can be used in conjucntion with any other Switch It Up! program.