Ameren rebates lighten Helias' electrical costs

Replacing some light bulbs paid off for Helias High School, which received almost $30,000 from Ameren UE on Wednesday.

Sandy Hentges, Helias' director of communications and admissions, said a check for $29,420.25 was presented to the school Wednesday afternoon.

The money came from Ameren rebates granted as incentives to replace fluorescent lights with LEDs, which use about half as much energy and last twice as long.

Travis Reinsch, Helias director of facilities, said all the T8 and T12 fluorescent lights in both gyms and the entire school building except for the new addition were replaced with LED bulbs.

After the rebates, Reinsch said the out-of-pocket cost was approximately $21,000.

However, he estimated the energy savings from the new bulbs at $18,484 annually, which means "in just over a year and a half, we'll get our money back."

He said this is the first time Ameren had done something like this for the school, and some the lights that had been replaced had probably been there for 15-20 years.