BASTROP – Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative received the prestigious Expanding Excellence Award from CS Week, one of the leading educational conferences for utilities, for its innovative use of technology. Bluebonnet was recognized for providing its members with hourly energy data through its website and a cutting-edge energy management program that empowers consumers to control their energy use and save money.

“We are extremely pleased that CS Week recognized all the hard work we have accomplished over the last few years deploying one of the most sophisticated technology platforms of any utility in the nation,” said Mark Rose, Bluebonnet’s general manager. “We believe our members are entitled to know how and when they’re using electricity. With that knowledge, they can control their energy use and save money on their electric bill.”

Through Bluebonnet’s Net Energy Market, www.bluebonnetelectric.coop, its members can check their hourly energy cost, consumption and carbon footprint, pay bills and set up alerts notifying them when they exceed a preset amount on their bill. About one-third of Bluebonnet’s members use this powerful online tool to monitor their energy use and pay their monthly bills, with hundreds more signing up each month.

The co-op also partnered with San Antonio-based Consert, Inc. to test a highly successful energy management program that enables Bluebonnet members to remotely monitor and control the settings on their heating and air conditioning systems, electric water heaters and pool pumps. It also enables Bluebonnet to adjust program participants’ energy settings during energy management events. Consert and Bluebonnet are looking at ways to expand the program to offer it to more co-op members.

The Expanding Excellence Awards are sponsored annually by CS Week, the leading customer service and smart infrastructure educational conference for utilities worldwide, and Electric Light & Power magazine, the leading electric industry publication.

“We are pleased to announce Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative as a winner of our Expanding Excellence Awards,” said Rod Litke, COO of CS Week and Chairman of the Awards Committee. “Our judging panel was impressed by many facets of the project, particularly the fact that in 2011, Bluebonnet became the first Cooperative in Texas to provide its members access to information about their energy use – in hourly intervals.”

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is one of the largest electric cooperatives in Texas and has been serving its members since 1939. Bluebonnet serves more than 81,000 meters and owns and maintains 11,000 miles of power lines, located across more than 3,800 square miles within 14 Central Texas counties. Bluebonnet’s service area stretches from Travis County to Washington County, and from Milam County down to Gonzales County. For more information about Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, go to www.bluebonnetelectric.coop() and follow the co-op on Facebook and Twitter.