Watt Watchers of Texas is a FREE energy conservation program for Texas schools sponsored by the Texas State Energy Conservation Office/ Comptroller of Public Accounts and the Department of Energy. The program is designed for K-12 classrooms, and it is so simple! Basically, students patrol the halls of the schools reducing energy waste by turning off lights and leaving tickets for those that leave their lights on while no one is in the room. By doing this, a school could save $50 per classroom. That’s right, it costs $50 per year to light an empty classroom for two hours each school day.

Teachers, just place the Watt Watchers materials in a bin at your front door and assign your students a time to go on patrols throughout the day and the work is done. The program can be adapted to fit your teaching needs and demands. The Watt Watchers program is designed to not interrupt daily school activities. Thousands of students across Texas are now patrolling quickly and quietly.

Call 1-888-USWATTS or go online to wattwatchers.org to enroll. Once you enroll in the program you will receive the free kit, which includes all the items you will need to get the program started at your school. Not only will your school be provided with these materials, but Watt Watchers of Texas will provide free support for the program and a quarterly newspaper with tips and articles about successful programs and other projects your school can do. You will also have access to all of our other programs such as Knowledge is Power Curriculum Supplement, Sleep is Good Monitor Power Management, Traveling Energy Exploration Stations and many more.

The kit you receive will contain the following:
4 Watt Watchers of Texas three ring binders- Use these to store your monthly patrol records, thank yous, and tickets.
4 Watt Watchers of Texas lanyards and name tags- To identify your Watt Watcher students while they are out in the halls.
4 Watt Watchers of Texas Pencils- To use while recording data during the patrols or just to promote the program at your school.
1 Watt Watchers of Texas Manual- This manual contains all the information you will need to get your program going and keep the enthusiasm high. It also contains master copies of our forms and awards.
1 Watt Watchers of Texas CD-ROM- The paper products you receive are also on the CD. You can print or modify the forms and awards we have developed from this source.
1 set of color thank you notes and tickets- We suggest you laminate this page and have reusable tickets. We are trying to save energy, right?
1 Mini Poster series- a series of mini posters (8 1/2 x 11) that promote the Watt Watchers program and our other projects

History of Watt Watchers

Energy efficiency programs have been around in our schools for many years. They come in all shapes and sizes and with many different names, but the Watt Watchers of Texas program has helped expand those programs.

In 1985 the Region IV Education Service Center in Houston was the site of the pilot program for Watt Watchers of Texas. Galveston ISD was one of the first schools to embrace the program within Region 4 and reduced their electric bill by $25,000 that year. The next year, through a contract with the University of Texas Permian Basin, a Watt Watcher program was implemented for West Texas. Their program expanded to include over 160 school districts throughout Texas by 1993. In 1997 Texas expanded the program to cover the entire state and divided the 254 counties between Watteam and Watt Watchers. Student patrols continued to look for lights left on in empty classrooms and began to get involved in other projects to stop energy waste, save money and prevent pollution. In 2001 Watteam and Watt Watchers merged to form Watt Watchers of Texas. This allowed us to put all of our resources into helping students all over the state.

As of Spring 2008, 4300 teachers in over 645 school districts have enrolled in the watt watcher program. There are over 1300 teachers that have been doing the program for over five years. Thousands of students have watched watts, ticketed teachers, learned about conservation and energy efficiency and thousands of dollars have been saved…