Most of California is undergoing a change in how electricity is charged based on the kilowatt hours. PG&E have sent their customers a pamphlet, “See your power in detail.” This provides some clues as to how we will be using electricity in the future. And this will have an impact on our parishioners, but it will also have a big impact on us. We have one meter that covers the entire property: school/church/rectory/hall/PCC. The school and parish each pay half of the bill.
We are already seeing an increase in our billing due to the Parish Community Center. On average our monthly electric bill has been about $2800. This is going to go up because we use electricity all day, and into the evening. We are only just learning about the rates and how they could impact on us. We do want to start experimenting with our light bill and see how the proposal to change our use of lights in the church will differ. As of Dec. 1st we will be focusing on the use of lights in the church at the morning Masses by turning on only a section of lights, and not the entire church. On average the 6:30 Mass has 40-45 people, and the 8:00 Mass has about 60. With 40-60 worshipping, we only need the front lights. Having spoken with our PPC and PFC, as of Dec.1 we will light only the front section of the Church, and exclude the middle to the back and the transepts. During the coming year we will be investigating the feasibility and cost of changing the lights to the LED lights in the Church. We will also check on the use of the lights in the Rectory, Hall, and PCC and I would imagine we will also evaluate the school but will need to work with the school and their parent advisory board. We have also asked our staff to monitor closely their office lights, and we are going to ask people who use the hall and PCC to be conscientious and not turn on all the lights in a room if they are not needed.
Thank you for your understanding,
Fr. Charles