EnergySource Celebrating 20 Years Helping Coloradans Afford Home Energy
Donor Newsletter | Summer 2009
www.EnergyOutreach.org

Thanks to your generous donations, together we have helped thousands of families
and seniors better afford home energy through Energy Outreach Colorado’s programs.
Here are our achievements from October 2008 through April 2009:

Energy Assistance
EOC partnered with 107 Colorado emergency assistance agencies, including the state Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP), to provide $4.91 million in utility bill payment assistance to more than 100,200 households. Our average payment of $369 went directly to utility companies to pay a portion of recipients’ overdue bills.  About 30 percent of the households had someone with special health needs, 26 percent
had a child under the age of five and 28 percent included a senior citizen.
Energy Efficiency
EOC is managing $800,000 in energy efficiency grants to 18 low-income housing organizations, including three that are installing solar energy systems. In addition, EOC recently secured $175,000 through Xcel Energy’s new Demand-Side Management program for grants to increase the energy efficiency of low-income housing. Our Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP), with the support of the Denver Office of Strategic Partnerships, is conducting energy audits and possible upgrades for non-profit facilities in the Denver metro area. It also is expanding to
Alamosa, Bent and Morgan counties.
Energy Education
EOC’s Energy Hog Traveling Road Show was presented to more than 9,000 elementary students in 40 schools across the state. This January, EOC provided $74,000 in grants to 10 organizations involved with low-income housing to evaluate the most effective ways to encourage energy conservation behaviors in residents. EOC also is working with the Governor’s Energy Office to distribute Energy Savings Kits into low-income homes.
Advocacy
EOC represents the interests of low-income consumers in regulatory activities, including utility rate cases and legislation. In February, EOC representatives participated in the national LIHEAP Action Day in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Fuel Funds Network. They visited Colorado congressional offices to urge them to support adequate federal funding for energy assistance. Closer to home, the 2008 results of a state Low Income Energy Assistance Program that EOC helped establish in 2005 showed that nearly $3 million was raised by the more than 60 participating energy utilities.

Energy Outreach Colorado Board of Directors

Gayle Berry
Howard Boigon
Dian Callaghan
Adam Goldman
John A. Harpole
Joel Johnson
Jim Lightner
Patricia Nelson Limerick
Michael J. McFadden
Tom O’Donnell
Mark Sexton
Mark Sunderhuse
Jack Swift
Troy L. Whitmore

Energy Outreach Colorado Staff

Skip Arnold, Executive Director
Alan Bieber, Director Web and Database Management
Jennifer Gremmert, Deputy Director
Heather Gullen, Administrative & Program Assistant
Peggy Hofstra, Communications Director
Lisa McDonald, Development Director
Jennie Miller, Associate Deputy Director
Pamela Packer, Director, Long-Term Energy Solutions
Rose Reed, Director of Administrative Services

Outlook

As Energy Outreach Colorado celebrates its 20-year anniversary, it’s a good time to step back and take measure of where we’ve come so we can better plot our course forward. In the late 1980s, Colorado was on the cusp of skyrocketing energy prices and declining federal assistance funding. The governor and state policy makers wisely determined that Colorado needed its own mechanism to raise funds to fill this growing gap. The Colorado Commission on Low-Income Energy Assistance was formed to develop a strategy, and on June 6, 1989, it established the Colorado Energy Assistance Foundation – now known as Energy Outreach Colorado.

This organization first focused specifically on raising energy assistance funds for low-income households during the winter, to be distributed through the state Low- Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP). In 1994, other assistance organizations such as Catholic Charities and Salvation Army began distributing funds during the six months LEAP was not operating. By 2001, the organization’s year-round funding included $2.5 million to LEAP and $3.5 million to a statewide network of partner agencies.

New programs were introduced to help households lower their energy bills through energy efficiency. Organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Rebuilding Together received grants to install energy efficiency measures such as increased insulation and high-efficiency appliances. The Energy Hog program was launched to provide free energy education programs in schools.

In 2006, EOC partnered with the City of Denver to apply Xcel Energy franchise fees toward energy efficiency upgrades for non-profit facilities such as Denver Rescue Mission and Urban Peak. This program is expanding outside the metro area through funding from EnCana Oil and Gas, the StePP Foundation, the Daniels Fund and other organizations. This year, EOC is offering grants to qualifying organizations for solar and other renewable projects.

In 20 years, Energy Outreach Colorado has distributed about $100 million to a statewide network of partner agencies to support energy affordability in the state. Low-income households now have access to energy assistance, energy efficiency upgrades, energy savings kits and educational materials. Their perspective and needs are represented by EOC before the Public Utilities Commission and the state legislature.

All of this is directly credited to the unwavering support of our partner agencies, state policy makers and our generous donors. Here’s to another 20 years!

Skip Arnold

Executive Director
Energy Outreach Colorado 

Life-Long Trinidad Senior gets Home Energy Update 

Marge Simons and her husband purchased their Trinidad home in 1955 and raised their family there. More than 50 years later, as a widow living on a fixed income, she faced a major challenge when the 1929 structure desperately needed some repairs. Fortunately, the South Central Council of Governments helped finance the replacement of her furnace, water heater and windows through a low-cost housing rehabilitation
loan partially financed by Energy Outreach Colorado. Her home also was fitted with additional insulation and updated kitchen wiring.

The difference has been life changing.

“This has helped so much with keeping the house warm, and I didn’t have to use the air conditioner at all in the summer,” said Simons, who was born and raised in Trinidad. “I really needed this assistance to have this work done, and I really appreciate all the wonderful things they’ve done for me.”

John Anderson is housing director with South Central Council of Governments, which provides Huerfano and Las Animas counties with programs such as senior citizen meals, transit and day care services and housing rehabilitation. He said they sometimes identify potential beneficiaries of the loan program by inspecting the residences of energy assistance recipients whose utility bills seem especially high.

“We like being able to offer this kind of assistance because the savings will go on for years into the future,” he said. “Some of the homeowners can save as much as $1,000 a year on their heating and cooling utility bills.”


EOC Helps Young Family’s Struggle

Getting established as a young family is challenging in these tough economic times, as Sharon V. well knows. The 26-year-old from Littleton was laid off from her banking job in January 2008 — six months after her fiancé lost his job as a night manager for a grocery chain. They survived for
a year — and cared for her fiance’s five-year-old son — on their savings and whatever temporary work they could find.

Fortunately, Sharon started a new job as a pricing administrator for an agricultural company in early 2009. Now, with a baby on the way, she’s trying to pay off bills and hoping her fiancé can find employment soon so they can proceed with wedding plans.

One bill they no longer need to worry about is their heating bill. They suffered through two long periods when the natural gas service at their rental home was shut off, then were denied help from the state’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) because their income was just
$20 over the federal income guideline. Finally, Sharon looked on the Internet for energy assistance and contacted Energy Outreach
Colorado for help.  Within a week, her utility account was credited to cover the past due amount and she was set up on an average payment plan.

“Without Energy Outreach we would still be without heat and just waiting for summer to come,” she said, noting that they resorted to heating water on the stove for baths and plugging in electric space heaters to try to stay warm.

“I was so surprised and ecstatic to find out we were being helped,” she said. “We’d been dealing with this for so long. Now I finally have a stable job with benefits and things are looking up.”

EOC and LEAP Team Up for Assistance

Energy Outreach Colorado and the state Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) collaborate closely to provide energy assistance to limited income households across the state throughout the year. 

Each year between November and April, LEAP is responsible for distributing federal funding that is appropriated through Congress. EOC, which raises additional assistance funds for Coloradans through thousands of individual, corporate and utility donors, encourages clients to apply for the federal funds first before seeking assistance through its partner agencies.  EOC also typically makes a donation to LEAP to increase the average benefit per household.

Once LEAP stops accepting applications on May 1, EOC agencies are the only source of energy assistance throughout the spring and summer until the next federal funding cycle, which begins November 1. Many households that weren’t able to keep up with winter heating bills request help to get caught up before the next year of heating bills begin, so demand is high year-round.

Information about how to apply for assistance, as well as make a donation, is available toll-free at 1-866-432-8435 (1-866-HEAT-HELP) or at http://energyoutreach.org/help-cen.asp

Greely Transitional House Gets Energized

Energy efficiency upgrades have helped a Greeley nonprofit stretch its limited budget at a time when its services are in higher demand than ever.

 The Greeley Transitional House provides about 100 homeless families a year with housing and food assistance and follow-up case management as they work toward becoming self sufficient and establishing stable employment and housing. It has been operating at full capacity since last fall, the highest usage in four years.

Last summer, Energy Outreach Colorado and EnCana Oil and Gas Co. funded an energy overhaul for its 12-unit facility through the Non-profit Energy Efficiency Program (NEEP). The three-level, 10,000 square-foot building was retrofitted with three tankless water heaters, an air conditioning unit, additional insulation, programmable thermostats and more than 160 compact fluorescent light bulbs.

“We’ve seen a dramatic improvement in air flow and we don’t have to run the heat as much,” said Jodi Hartmann, executive director of the organization. “With four sets of appliances, furnaces and air conditioners, anything we can do to save energy is really important.”

After analysis of the 1996-era facility’s energy bills before and after the renovations, the organization expects to save about $2,000 a year in energy costs – funds that can instead be used for services such as mentoring and tutoring programs. And its residents are learning how to better manage energy once they get into their own homes.

“We teach families life skills like nutrition, credit and budgeting. Why not teach them how to be energy efficient?” said Hartmann. “We’re talking about a population that’s in survival mode. It really comes down to dollars and cents.”

School of Mines Shines Light on Needy Families
The Colorado School of Mines recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of its “M-Blem” — a 100-foot tall “M” illuminated by 1,553 light bulbs that overlooks Golden from near the top of Mount Zion — by going green and helping low-income families.

Student members of the CSM Blue Key National Honor Society, a service and scholarship organization charged with maintaining the M-Blem, commemorated the anniversary by changing the light bulbs from incandescent to energy-efficient LED. The updated “M” was first unveiled during a Homecoming event last fall.

To offset the cost of the “green energy” replacements, the discarded bulbs were etched with an anniversary logo and sold as $5 holiday ornaments. All of these historical remnants were purchased by students, Golden community residents and school alumni. Blue Key donated $6,000 in profits to Energy Outreach Colorado — enough funding to keep 20 households from having their service discontinued last winter.

“We thought the mission of Energy Outreach Colorado really complemented what we hoped to accomplish with this project,” said Tyler Benton, a Colorado School of Mines senior that helped coordinate the project. “Blue Key has a history of improving the community, and the School of Mines is focused on technology. We see Energy Outreach Colorado helping low-income families reduce their energy use through energy efficient technologies.”