Air conditioning and lighting in 10 state government buildings in Santa Fe will be controlled from a San Francisco network center under a program designed to cut electricity demand during peak hours and save the state money.

It doesn't mean office workers will suddenly be sweltering in the heat or working in the dark. In fact, a state spokesman said, they should hardly notice the energy reduction at all.

"We're not talking about shutting down the building or shutting down computers," said Alex Cuellar, public information officer for the General Services Department. "We're talking about slowing down fan speeds and shutting down the chiller for a while."

Gov. Bill Richardson announced Wednesday that the state will participate in the Peak Saver program, operated by Public Service Company of New Mexico and its contractor, EnerNOC, as part of an initiative to reduce energy use in executive branch agencies to 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2015.

Peak Saver is the large, commercial version of a program PNM offers to small and medium-sized business customers and residential customers. Currently, more than 18,000 customers participate in the two free programs.

The programs help PNM make sure there's enough electricity during "peak demand" — such as the middle of a blistering-hot summer day when everyone wants to turn on air conditioning at the same time — while buying less electricity on the spot market and reducing loads on the utility's transmission system.

Heating, cooling other electric-powered systems such as lighting can be monitored remotely by computer and automatically shut off or powered at a lower level. Remotely controlling electricity is part of a new power model called "Smart Grid."

EnerNOC, with offices in Colorado, California and elsewhere, has similar contracts with Boston, Connecticut and Vermont.

The state buildings participating in the Peak Saver program include the Bataan Memorial and Paul Bardacke/Villagra Complex at the Central Campus; the PERA Building at the East Campus; the Joseph Montoya, Harold L. Runnels, Manuel Lujan Sr. and the Wendell Chino buildings in the South Campus; and the Willie Ortiz and Toney Anaya Buildings at the West Campus.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.