State commissioner visits Russellville

By Staff
Kim West
Dr. Susan Parker, one of three commissioners on the Alabama Public Service Commission, promoted conservation as a solution to rising energy costs in a speech to the Russellville Kiwanis Club Thursday afternoon.
Parker, a former state auditor and administrator at Calhoun Community College and Athens State University, discussed the Consumer Education Initiative, a program started by the commission to inform Alabama citizens about how to become more energy efficient.
"We are facing an energy crisis," said Parker, who was elected in 2006. "I started the Consumer Education Initiative to educate people about the crisis.
"If you had known five years ago that gasoline would cost $4 a gallon, would you have done anything different? It's the same thing with (energy costs) – what can you do to protect yourself?"
The initiative includes "100 Tips to Save Energy in Your Home" and suggests using renewable energy and the Weatherization Assistance Program, which focuses on increasing energy efficiency in their homes of the elderly, low-income families and people with disabilites.
"I'm very interested in renewable energy," Parker said. "We've got to find some technological ways to improve (energy efficiency) and stick with them until we get there."
For more information, visit www.psc.alabama.gov.