The N.C. Utilities Commission has approved two new conservation programs for Progress Energy Carolinas customers.

The programs will help residential, commercial, industrial and government customers save money and reduce their energy use:

Energy Efficiency for Business: This program will be available to commercial, industrial and government (CIG) customers, for both new construction and retrofit applications.

The program will offer standardized and custom incentives for implementing energy-efficiency measures, as well as varying levels of technical assistance to help offset the customer's design and engineering costs.

Residential Solar Water Heating Pilot: Under this pilot, up to 150 customers will be offered a $1,000 incentive to participate in the study. The incentive is offered to encourage participants to invest in solar water heating and compensate customers for any inconveniences encountered during installation of measurement equipment, retrieval of data from monitored sites and participation in program surveys.

Progress Energy Carolinas will use the measured data gleaned through the pilot program to help determine regional energy-saving capabilities for a potential larger-scale program.

The Energy Efficiency for Business program started last month. The Residential Solar Water Heating Pilot is scheduled to begin in late summer.

Progress Energy has made a commitment to double its energy efficiency to 2,000 megawatts (MW) through demand-side management and energy-efficiency programs. Increasing the amount of efficiency from customers helps to delay the need for new power plants, a news release said.

Progress Energy is developing an array of programs to fit varied customer lifestyles and needs. In addition to the programs already approved and those not yet filed with regulators, the company is awaiting approval for a comprehensive program targeted to residential customers that will offer a variety of incentives for implementing energy-saving measures in existing homes.

Additional programs to be filed in the coming months include enhanced efficiency for low-income households and discounts for compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

In addition to programs, the company provides efficiency information and tips through the Save The Watts campaign. Save The Watts is an educational initiative that features a highly interactive Web site (www.savethewatts.com) with energy-efficiency program details and more than 100 useful tips for customers to save energy and money.

The Web site provides a calculator for customers to measure their energy savings as well as their carbon footprint, a calculation of the individual's energy usage to reflect his or her contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, is a Fortune 500 energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. Progress Energy includes two major electric utilities that serve 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida. The company celebrated a century of service in 2008.