The Greeneville City School System reduced its electricity costs by an estimated $9,700 in the first month of its new "Kick the Kilowatts" program.

Kick the Kilowatts is a "friendly competition" to see which school can conserve the most energy each month, according to Lisa Stephens, finance and human resources supervisor.

Stephens announced Thursday at a meeting of the Greeneville Board of Education that the first monthly winner of "Kick the Kilowatts" is Tusculum View Elementary School.

Tusculum View reduced its electricity consumption by 34.54 percent, or 21,633 kilowatt hours this October, compared with October last year, Stephens said.

Principal Pat Donaldson and students Katie Cronin, second grade; and Drew Daugherty and Jackson Renner, both fourth grade; attended the meeting to accept a new banner that will be displayed at their school until a new winner is announced.

The three students won a drawing and were treated to lunch at Pizza Inn this week.

Also, fourth-grade teacher Rene Skeen won a drawing among the school's full-time employees for one paid day off work.

Donaldson said students and teachers are paying closer attention to when classroom lights are turned off during the school day.

Schools also are monitoring their thermostats by checking room temperatures at 8 a.m., noon and the end of the school day, Stephens said.

The entire Greeneville School System reduced its kilowatt hours by 151,900, which is enough electricity to operate Tusculum View, EastView and Hal Henard elementary schools for one month, Stephens noted.

Donaldson added that Tusculum View has incorporated the program into its curriculum to teach students the importance of conserving energy.

Kick the Kilowatts was developed by the school system to offset a total of 14 percent in rate increases approved this year by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) which supplies electricity to the Greeneville Light & Power System (GL&PS.)

Stephens said GL&PS has been working with the school system to provide data from the past two years and help calculate the amounts saved by each school.

Stephens said she hopes students will take what they learn from the Kick the Kilowatts program and apply it at home to help their families reduce their electric bills.

She noted that GL&PS has a home energy audit program that can help the utility's customers save money.

Jim Glaze, GL&PS customer service manager, explained that the free program allows residents to sign up for a paper survey to conduct at their homes.

The check-list survey requires residents to walk through their homes, check certain items and send the survey results to TVA, Glaze said.

In four to six weeks, TVA will return survey answers that tell residents how they can save energy in their homes, Glaze said.

Participating residents also will receive an energy kit that contains such items as light bulbs, water-saving measures and outlet covers, Glaze said.

To sign up for the program, visit www.tva.gov and click the "energy right" link or call GL&PS at 636-6200.