why do power companies show ads to use less energy?

[dpopiz]

 

[Leros]

government regulations? Make themselves look good to the community?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

same reason cigarette compaines make ads against smoking?

 

[Chaotic42]

It could be for PR reasons, government reasons, or perhaps they are worried about people tapping the grid too hard. Down here in MS, every house has at least one air conditioning unit running 24 hours per day. Heck, the AC just turned off here and it's 3AM in late December.

That's a significant draw on the power grid.

 

[Cristatus]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
same reason cigarette compaines make ads against smoking?

And alcohol companies are for responsible drinking.

 

[intogamer]

Because there can never be enough electricity...

China is killing to get more PetaWatts?

 

[LongCoolMother]

public relations, public relations, public relations.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
same reason cigarette compaines make ads against smoking?

Damn, beat me to it.

Yup, Philip Morris is the number one place to go for anti-smoking and quitting information.
And I'm sure in the end, it doesnt hurt their bussiness one bit.

Not that I mind. I know smoking is bad and if people are dumb enough to keep doing it then they should be fleeced for all their money.

 

[loic2003]

Government regulations, and moral obligation.

 

[ForumMaster]

maybe cause for example, there's a power shortage in california and the power company doesn't want to build another plant?

 

[misle]

Public relations, trying to save the consumer money, and a lot of power companies can't produce enough power, so they have to purchase power to resell, usually for a loss.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Yup, Philip Morris is the number one place to go for anti-smoking and quitting information.
And I'm sure in the end, it doesnt hurt their bussiness one bit.

Not that I mind. I know smoking is bad and if people are dumb enough to keep doing it then they should be fleeced for all their money.

It didn't always be this way though - the government basically forced them to start anti-smoking campaigns.

I don't think there's any sort of government influence on the power companies, it's just to make themselves look better. That's the same reason BP runs ads saying they're working on cleaner/renewable fuels, even when it's in their best interest for you to buy a first generation Hummer and drive EVERYWHERE.

 

[j00fek]

PR

 

[Tom]

comparing this to cig companies and alcohol companies is not valid.

those a-holes are simply lying, neither actually wants to sell less.

power companies on the other hand don't want to build new power plants, so they have a valid reason to promote conservation.

and they aren't in the business of preying on people's weaknesses either, so they may have some slight amount of ethical behavior behind it too.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

It's simple really. Telling people to reduce electrical usage allows the power company to supply electricity to more users with the same overhead. The way they make more money is all the fees and various other bull crap that is on your bill that isn't just the electricity. Wire maintenece fees, provider fee ect. By getting a lot of people to reduce their electrical usage by 5% they are making more money.

 

[FoBoT]

PR and their rates are regulated , so they don't really make more profit if use goes up

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
It's simple really. Telling people to reduce electrical usage allows the power company to supply electricity to more users with the same overhead. The way they make more money is all the fees and various other bull crap that is on your bill that isn't just the electricity. Wire maintenece fees, provider fee ect. By getting a lot of people to reduce their electrical usage by 5% they are making more money.

This, I think, is the correct answer.

Some will also give you a discount for using compact flourescents. It's much cheaper to get people to use less than to build a new power plant.

 

[dpopiz]

in the long run, doesn't increasing the size of the market always give you more profit?

 

[jfall]

A better question is, why is there advertisements for Milk, as if no one buys it