Ted Garille, general manager of the Pascoag Utility District, stands next to the building at district headquarters where solar panels have been installed to provide 15 percent of the headquarter’s energy needs.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

BURRILLVILLE — For an electricity supplier, the Pascoag Utility District goes to some unusual lengths to discourage energy use.

It refunded the Harrisville and Pascoag village fire departments half the cost of updating their Christmas lights with energy-efficient bulbs. It gives out hefty rebates to customers who invest in Energy Star-rated appliances. It has even larger financial incentives for homeowners who get rid of power-hungry electric heaters.

And recently the district went another step further by installing 24 solar panels at its Main Street headquarters that provide 15 percent of the energy needs of a complex that includes a business office, garage and other buildings that house 20 employees along with vehicles and equipment.

But the corporation isn’t just dabbling in renewable energy. It is applying for state and federal grants to pay part of the cost of doubling the number of solar panels and has plans to eventually make the system large enough to cover all of the energy needs at its headquarters.

The panels were made by Evergreen Solar, of Marlboro, Mass., and installed in June by Cranston-based RISE Engineering. The total cost of the materials and installation was about $41,000.

The 5-kilowatt solar-energy system saves the district about $225 a month on its electricity bill. At that rate, paying for the system would take nearly 15 years.

But Ted Garille, general manager of the Pascoag Utility District since 1996, said the decision to invest in the solar panels had nothing to do with money. It was an attempt to show people that “green” power is possible.

“This is a statement,” he said. “This is encouragement to our customers. Someday, I hope the prices come down to where this is affordable for everyone.”

The Pascoag Utility District can take these seemingly counterintuitive steps because it’s a nonprofit utility, the only one of its kind in Rhode Island. (It’s also the only electric company in the state besides National Grid.) Because of its nonprofit status, there’s no pressure on the district to boost earnings.

But that doesn’t mean the corporation just throws money away. It has signed long-term contracts with electricity producers, including a 50-year pact for hydropower from the New York Power Authority. It also has a 40-year contract with the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plan in New Hampshire. Those two providers account for nearly 40 percent of the district’s energy needs.

Because of those and other agreements, the district hasn’t been so susceptible to fluctuations in the power market. Over the past several years, the district’s electricity rates have been as much as 30 percent lower than what National Grid charges the majority of Rhode Islanders. In 2010, the Pascoag Utility District predicts it will either keep rates the same or even offer a decrease.

But it’s an exaggeration to say that money plays no part in the district’s efforts to promote energy conservation and green power. Garille and the district’s board of directors say that lower demand for energy will keep prices down throughout the market. If the district’s rates are any indication, that way of thinking seems to be working for its customers.

Garille may be the only head of a power utility who is proud to report that usage has been flat over the past six years. Energy consumption for the district’s 5,000 customers peaked in 2003 when they used 12 megawatts of electricity. Since then, use has averaged between 7 megawatts and 9 megawatts while the number of customers has remained about the same.

“It may be a small amount, but if enough people do it, then prices could conceivably go down,” Garille said. “Why not do it? Why not reduce our energy dependency?”

The Pascoag Utility District is very much a small-town business. A representative will go to a customer’s home if they are threatened with their service being cut off. A quarter of the corporation’s customers pay their bills in person at the business office. Garille likens these visits to social events.

Those visits are also a chance for customers to learn about solar power. A flat-screen monitor in the business office reports how much energy the solar panels have generated and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions they have offset.

Garille says those panels are just the start of the Pascoag Utility District’s green-energy experiment.

“We like to do things very differently up here,” he said.

akuffner@projo.com