TXU Energy, STC team up to help Valley family

McALLEN - Florencia Sepulveda doesn’t like cold temperatures and prefers to keep her home at 78 degrees.

But with an old air-conditioning unit — she and her husband, Bonifacio, purchased a used unit 11 years ago — and a cracked window, her electric bill topped $250 some months and her home wasn’t getting any cooler.

Last month’s bill was $288. Despite living on a fixed income, Florencia, 67, and Bonifacio, 73, scraped together what they had to pay the bills.

“We need to have light,” Florencia Sepulveda said in Spanish.

TXU Energy and South Texas College teamed up to try to save the Sepulvedas some money on their energy bill.

On Thursday, students enrolled in STC’s programs in electricity and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning helped TXU Energy refurbish the Sepulvedas’ South McAllen home to make it more energy efficient.

The Sepulvedas were the third family from the Rio Grande Valley to receive a “Home Energy Makeover” courtesy of the company. The electricity provider has offered the makeovers to select customers since 2003.

TXU Energy began the program to teach consumers how to use less energy and help the environment by turning off lights when leaving a room, replacing standard light bulbs with more energy-efficient ones and improving insulation, said Sophia Stoller, a spokeswoman for the company.

“This family is definitely in need of a home improvement project,” Stoller said.

She and STC instructors estimated the work done on the home totaled more than $1,000.

STC students refurbished the Sepulvedas’ air-conditioning system — the main contributor to the couple’s high energy bills — by repairing and replacing the fan, coils and other parts.

The coils had deteriorated and would freeze up when the unit was on, the fan blades were bent, and other parts were not working properly, said Guadalupe Hernandez, an instructor in the college’s HVAC program.

Students also installed a programmable thermostat, replaced light fixtures with more energy-efficient ones, installed smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and installed removable, heat-reflective window coverings.

Florencia Sepulveda said she appreciates what the school and energy company have done, even if the myriad workers coming and going from the home have triggered phone calls from concerned neighbors.

“The neighbor’s are calling, asking, ‘What’s going on,’” she said. “Everything’s fine.”

STC students said they enjoyed the hands-on training.

“It’s great. You’re learning and helping people that need help,” said 29-year-old Isaac Vasquez, a third-semester HVAC student from Mission.

Santiago Torres, a 23-year-old student studying electricity, said he likes being able to apply what he learned in the school’s lab to what he’s doing at the Sepulvedas’ home.

“They’re getting something out of it and you get hands-on experience,” Torres said as he helped other students replace lighting fixtures.

With the improvements made, Stoller, the TXU Energy spokeswoman, said the family could save 10-20 percent on its energy bill each year. The programmable thermostat alone could save them as much as $250 annually.

Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.