Thurston County to pursue “Switch is On” environmental campaign with King and Pierce counties

Thurston County will approve a motion to enter a services agreement with King and Pierce counties and the cities of Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia to fund a “Switch is On” campaign and “Decarbonization Navigator Platform” at its meeting next week.

Yesterday, the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) discussed the upcoming environmental consumer education campaign, which includes software on home electrification and energy efficiency and is estimated to cost $225,000.

The board first discussed the county’s action regarding the initiative at its November 29 meeting, during which county staff presented the county’s service agreement with King County, which has agreed to select a service provider to develop the campaign. 

“So the web platform, which is switchison.org, which exists currently in other states, they would be branding a new website for Washington and this will also serve to meet our needs regionally,” said Climate Mitigation Senior Program Manager Rebecca Harvey. The project may serve as a “pilot for a potential statewide energy navigator program that's being considered in the upcoming legislative session,” she added.

Harvey shared that Thurston County will be at the forefront of branding the initiative and in helping test this educational resource for county residents; the collaboration was selected by the Thurston Climate Mitigation Collaborative, the county, and the three cities as one of its priority regional initiatives.

“By going in on this bigger regional effort and pooling our funds with the other counties and cities, we'll be able to deliver this part of our priority initiative at a lower cost and higher quality than we would be able to do if we were to go it alone,” Harvey said.

Additional costs

Thurston’s Board of County Commissioners had its first meeting of the year yesterday, January January 2, 2024.

Commissioner Gary Edwards raised the issue of unforeseen costs that might surface once the project starts.

“This $225,000 is towards what's in this scope of work that is shared among the three counties and cities for all of our residents. Beyond that, with my colleagues in the three local cities, we are jumping into a planning process for a local campaign,” answered Harvey.

Harvey explained that the counties are currently starting the planning phase. Aside from the counties' funding, county staff will also apply for an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, due in April, amounting to $81,000.

Should the grant application succeed, it will augment or provide supplemental incentives for heat pumps and energy efficiency improvements and possibly fund energy audits of residents’ homes.