The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has released a new report highlighting the important role that energy efficiency programs play in helping limited-income people. The burden of energy costs is particularly high on limited-income households, but with well-designed energy efficiency programs, this burden can be significantly reduced.

Carefully designed efficiency programs are crucial to removing participation barriers faced by limited-income households. In a recent blog post announcing the release of the report, ACEEE reviews the key elements of effective efficiency programs. These include streamlining interactions for customers, reaching different market segments with targeted programs, prioritizing training and quality control, utilizing a diverse set of funding sources, establishing strong partnerships with other organizations, and incorporating health and safety measures into service delivery.

The report highlights utility programs that are putting these tactics into practice in order to successfully reach a large number of limited-income customers. ACEEE interviewed and analyzed electric and gas efficiency programs across the country. Among the featured utilities in the report are two administered by VEIC – Efficiency Vermont and the DC Sustainable Energy Utility – each provide effective, comprehensive services and deep energy savings to limited-income customers in their regions of Vermont and the District of Columbia. These efforts are just some of the ways that VEIC is working to advance energy justice in communities across the country.

To learn more and access the full report visit the ACEEE blog.