MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Base housing officials recently received a rebate check for $173,800 - the latest dividend in a series of windfalls since the base and the rest of Southern California fell on hard times energywise early in the decade.

The latest payment comes courtesy of San Diego Gas and Electric - which rebated the base for 632 new energy-efficient refrigerators purchased last month and installed in Stuart Mesa Housing.

The check, a part of SDG&Es new Energy Saver Rebate program, will fund housing improvements, according to Lt. Col. Thomas Vilas, the base's director of family housing.

"The program was designed to help school, nonprofits and tax-exempt organizations that would otherwise not be able to install energy efficient equipment," says Jeff Alexander, senior program manager for SDG&Es Energy Saver Program.

"So far, the program has helped our customers save almost two million kilowatts annually."

Meanwhile, the base at large remains on a treadmill toward greater energy savings - after dysfunctional energy markets on the West Coast buried the base in $20 million of energy debt just five years ago.

In response to the crisis, the federal government mandated 35 percent energy savings by 2010 - a target Camp Pendleton has reached - and then some - six years early, according to a statement from the base's "energy team."

This year, the base has achieved a 44 percent reduction in energy consumption compared with 1985 levels, the benchmark for the federal mandate, according to an annual energy report sent by the energy team to the base commanding general.

The team has reached its goal largely through an aggressive equipment trade-out - involving everything from lighting to boiler systems.

According to a list provided by the energy team, trade-outs over the past three years have included the following:

n replacement of 120 boilers

n eight warehouses equipped with day-lighting

n retrofitting of warehouses and hangers with florescent lamps and ballasts.

The team also has taken the 22 Area steam plant offline - cutting roughly in half the amount of energy it uses at a savings of roughly $600,000 over the period.

"We all have a fundamental responsibility for the judicious use of energy and to conserve energy whenever possible," the team said in a statement. "Whether in family housing, billeting, administrative spaces or work areas, the energy we consume costs money - your tax dollars."

The check presented by SDG&E served as a metaphor for the base's rising energy fortunes.

"We are pleased to accept this check from SDG&E - and the money goes right back into renovating our housing areas and improving the quality of life for our families," Vilas said.