Pictured (L-R): John Smith, Western Regional VP for Progress-Carolinas, Martha Thompson, Progress Energy Community Relations Manager, Lloyd Yates, and Gene Bell, Executive Director of the Asheville Housing Authority. Photo: Michael Hopping

by Michael Hopping

A low-income neighborhood including the Pisgah View Apartments is the first in the Carolinas to benefit from a new energy conservation and efficiency project from Progress Energy. Neighborhood Energy Savers (NES) is designed to help low-income customers save electricity and money on power bills — at no cost to them. 

Progress Carolinas CEO Lloyd Yates, Congressman Heath Shuler, Mayor Terry Bellamy, and other dignitaries were on hand to launch the program at the Pisgah View Community Center on October 19.

Yates described NES as another step his company is taking toward a brighter energy future. Progress is spending $500 million dollars over five years on efficiency and conservation measures. The company hopes to save 2,000 megawatts (MW) in the Carolinas service territory within the next ten years.

Yates also expects to shave 250 MW off peak demand system-wide. This is particularly important in Western North Carolina, where, on a cold winter morning last January, demand for electricity reached a record level not anticipated until 2014.

The NES program will be offered to selected communities where most households have an income at or below 150% of poverty level. Pisgah View and parts of a central Asheville neighborhood are first on Progress’s list. Approximately 1,300 homes and apartments are eligible to participate on a voluntary basis.

NES participants receive a free home energy audit from a qualified auditor. Certified technicians then perform upgrades and provide energy saving tips. Upgrades may include compact fluorescent lightbulbs, an insulating blanket for a water heater, a low-flow showerhead, caulking, weather-stripping, cleaning refrigerator coils, replacing furnace filters, and other measures. Progress estimates that these improvements will reduce a homeowner’s annual electricity bill by as much as $95 per year.

Costs of the program, $300-$350 per home, are covered by an electric rate increase that Progress began to phase in last winter.

The Neighborhood Energy Savers district includes Livingston Heights Apartments.

Representative Shuler praised NES and Progress’s decision to begin in Asheville. “Asheville and Buncombe County are leaders in moving toward a greener future,” Shuler said. “Low-income people spend more of their budget on energy than any other sector of the community. We’re glad Progress is taking the lead, but we can also do this through our churches and at home as well.”

Mayor Bellamy said the city is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint. “Progress Energy is helping our community become more sustainable. I appreciate them coming here. Progress is a good corporate citizen.”

In mid-November NES will shift from Pisgah View to the Livingston Heights Apartments and a defined area of nearby neighborhoods, including French Broad Avenue between Dailey Drive on the north and Choctaw and Ralph Streets on the south. A kick-off for the Livingston Heights phase is scheduled for November 18.

Vince Iamunno of Honeywell Utility Solutions, the contractor whom Progress hired to do the audits and upgrades, said his two crews should be able to upgrade about 100 residences per week. He estimated that work in Asheville will be completed by the first of the year. NES will then travel to other North and South Carolina cities.

In Asheville, the NES program is being conducted in partnership with the City of Asheville, Community Action Opportunities, and North Carolina’s Weatherization Assistance Program.