Two area school districts have been awarded incentive checks from Public Service Company of Oklahoma for participating in the Model Cities Program.

Elk City School District received $14,776 for increasing the efficiency of the lighting systems in several district facilities, including the Longfellow Building, Susan Powell Fine Arts Building and Pioneer Elementary School, while Canute School District was awarded $7,301 for increasing the efficiency of its lighting and air conditioner systems.

Model Cities is offered by PSO to help school districts and city governments reduce operating costs by identifying and implementing energy efficiency improvement projects. The incentives the districts earned were determined by the total amount of energy savings resulting from the lighting and air conditioning upgrades.

Elk City Superintendent Galeard Roper said, "The incentive from PSO certainly validates our investment in energy efficiency. It’s important that our school district sets a positive example for our students and our community, and reducing our energy use is a critical step."

The new lighting systems installed in Elk City will save more than 202,915 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, while the lighting and air conditioning system improvements in Canute will save more than 62,950 kilowatt-hours per year.

"The Model Cities Program helped us identify ways we can conserve energy and save money," said Canute Superintendent Mike Maddox. "That money can be reinvested directly into our classrooms, and by reducing energy use we are setting a positive example for our students."

"We identified a real need for an energy efficiency program that specifically targets cities and schools, especially as budgets are spread thin," said Dwain Kamphaus, customer service representative for PSO. "By partnering with these schools to reduce energy costs, their valuable resources can be used for other needed projects."

Along with the savings in kilowatt-hours, Environmental Protection Agency estimates indicate the energy savings in Elk City will be equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of about 61,540 gallons of gasoline. The EPA-estimated savings in Canute equal the carbon dioxide emissions of about 5,130 gallons of gasoline.

PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving approximately 527,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Based in Tulsa, PSO has 4,405 megawatts of generating capacity, and is the largest provider of wind energy in the state.