Sep. 22--WASILLA -- A government-funded bid to promote energy efficiency and conservation by appealing to the public's competitive side is already running into some potential short circuits.

In a 4-2 vote last Tuesday, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly approved the award of $100,000 to Anchorage-based Renewable Energy Alaska Project to start a public education campaign pegged around a Web site that tracks home energy use.

But the borough mayor hasn't signed off on the money and the Valley's only major utility doesn't plan to participate.

The so-called Alaska Efficiency Challenge would encourage energy efficiency and conservation by pitting people and communities -- say, Wasilla versus Palmer -- against each other in a friendly competition to reduce energy use, supporters say.

People could go to a Web site and punch in the size of their home, number of people in the household and utility bills. The site would kick out a list of 400 energy-efficiency and conservation suggestions ranging from turning down the thermostat to buying new energy-efficient appliances.

The program would tell users how much money they could be saving. Along with lower energy bills, participants could earn prizes.

If utilities agreed to participate, the site could also track a household's actual energy use, said Chris Rose, executive director of REAP. Evidence of real, long-term reductions in energy use could even factor into power-generation decisions down the road, Rose said. Borough planning officials, who say the program complies with the borough's strategic plans, echoed the possibility of reducing the need for new power plants in the future.

A recent study by the Portland, Ore.-based Northwest Power and Conservation Council showed that conservation eliminated the need for six new power plants in the past three decades and can meet 85 percent of the new power needs in that region over the next 20 years, according to a report by The Associated Press.

The effort would be entirely voluntary, Rose said. REAP plans to partner with a Washington, D.C., marketing firm trying to bring similar challenges to 200 communities nationwide. An Outside Web company would build the online site.

Basically, the challenge makes energy-use decisions fun, he said.

"When people talk about conservation, they're also thinking about Jimmy Carter at the White House with the sweater on," Rose said. "It doesn't have to be that way. Conservation can be as simple as putting your appliances on a power strip."

But Rose said he's not moving ahead until funding comes through. And the status of the funding was unclear Tuesday. Borough Mayor Talis Colberg signed off on all other legislation approved during last Tuesday's meeting, said clerk Lonnie McKechnie.

The mayor could not be reached to find out whether he plans to sign or veto the funding.

Matanuska Electric Association decided not to participate due to confidentiality concerns about sharing member data with an Outside company, spokeswoman Lorali Carter said.

MEA is concentrating instead on its own conservation plan, as well as a major new public relations effort with other utilities to encourage conservation in the face of possible rolling blackouts this winter due to natural gas shortages, Carter said.

She also questioned any real effect the project might have on future construction of new power plants.

"Unless everyone's going back to candles and wood-burning stoves, we need new generation in the Railbelt," Carter said.

Find Zaz Hollander online at adn.com/contact/zhollander or call 352-6711.

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