Asking customers to use LESS of a product is something companies rarely do, but National Grid is doing just that. For more than 20 years National Grid has offered energy efficiency programs and initiatives to help customers lower their energy bills and help the environment.

Now National Grid has issued a specific challenge: Pledge to use three percent less energy every year for the next ten years.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing society in the 21st century,” said Tom King, president of National Grid’s U.S. business. “We have long believed that reducing energy use through conservation and energy efficiency measures is one of the most effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint,” he added. “We have millions of customers and 17,000 employees in the U.S. If each of us uses three percent less energy, our collective power of our action will have a stunning effect. We urge everyone to join us in this effort.”

The cornerstone of the three percent less campaign is an interactive website, www.powerofaction.com, where visitors can sign a pledge; participate in a free energy evaluation; and learn ways to reduce their energy consumption by:

• Implementing simple low-cost or no-cost energy conservation methods
• Converting from oil to gas heat
• Taking advantage of National Grid energy efficiency programs in their region

National Grid is doing its part by committing to an aggressive 80 percent reduction in its carbon footprint by 2050 (from 1990 levels). The company also has pending proposals in three states to develop smart grid pilots that will provide approximately 200,000 residential and business customers across the northeast an unprecedented ability to reduce their energy consumption, carbon emissions and utility bills. And National Grid will develop solar generating facilities in Massachusetts. National Grid also is advocating aggressively for state and federal energy policy that will help reduce the effects of climate change.

National Grid is an international energy delivery company. In the U.S., National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S., serving approximately 3.4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. National Grid also owns over 4,000 megawatts of contracted electricity generation that provides power to over one million LIPA customers.