Valley Electric Association customers will receive a questionnaire next week, asking if they would be interested in leasing a solar water heater under a new program.

"It will be a zero interest loan, and the monthly payments will be less than the savings on their monthly energy bill," VEA Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted said.

The customer would pay a $50 deposit. The monthly lease for a two- to four-person household solar hot water heating system would be $17.70, for three to four people $25 and for a three- to five-person household $33.40.

The savings on the monthly energy bill for that two- to four-person household that switches to a solar-powered hot water heater would be roughly $21; a three- to five-person household could save $45.11, he said.

"Then, of course, when the system is paid for, the entire system would be theirs. Depending on the system it would be anywhere from eight to 13 years," Husted said.

The cost to VEA of the solar-powered water heaters supplied by Rheem will be from $2,320 to $3,000 apiece installed. Due to economies of scale, it's much cheaper than the $6,000 for solar hot water heaters installed under a pilot project undertaken by VEA, he said.

There's also a tax credit of over $1,000 included in that savings per unit.

Husted said if 5,000 people signed up to participate, the program would save VEA members an estimated $34 million in annual energy costs over the next 20 years. The savings would come in defrayed power purchases, not having to build additional infrastructure and the sale of renewable energy credits, he said.

"If we install 5,000 units, we'll remove 15.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. So even from the environmental standpoint there's a huge benefit with moving with this program," he said.

The cooperative is taking a proactive stance, he said, as "cap and trade" legislation is moving through Congress, allowing the sale of carbon credits to reduce global warming. The expectation is the bill will increase energy costs.

Husted said the cooperative is thinking of getting funds for the project through private financing, via the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. instead of the original plan to seek Clean Renewable Energy Bonds offered in the government stimulus package.

But Husted was excited about the job potential anyway.

"Not only is it going to give members savings immediately, this is a unit with a 40-year life span," Husted said. "We're going to need approximately 40 to 60 local craftsmen to assist in the installation of these units.

"We're talking about 40 to 60 people over the next 18 to 24 months just for the initial buildup, approximately $5 million in payroll, another $1 million in state and local taxes, and there are no additional costs to customers who choose not to participate in the program."

VEA has discussed training system installers through Great Basin College, he said.

As an incentive, customers who fill out the survey and send it in will have an opportunity to win a free, installed, solar hot water heater.

Husted said he's familiar with only one other utility in the U.S. that has adopted a similar program, one in South Florida. He described it as investing in solar energy on a microeconomic scale instead of waiting for the large solar power plants to go on line.

"We are always negotiating looking at long-term power supply. This is no different than investing in long-term generation. It's generation one rooftop at a time," Husted said.

The annual energy savings would amount to $253 to $546 per year depending on the demographics, he said.

"It would make Pahrump one of the largest solar communities in the United States," Husted said.

The cooperative plans on hosting informational meetings for members on the program, Husted said. The system will be equipped to run off the regular electric system if necessary, he said.

VEA Marketing Manager Staci Behnke applauded the work of the conservation and renewable energy and the finance committees and the VEA ambassadors in helping put the program together.

"We want to launch this program Labor Day," Husted said. "We felt if we had the members' interest, we would launch this as early as possible simply because we wanted to put people to work."