We’re excited to announce that a new case study – “Advancing Energy Equity One Neighborhood at a Time” – is now available for download. The latest case study looks at the accomplishments of Duke Energy's Neighborhood Energy Saver (NES) Program in the utility's Florida service territory.

Recognizing that low-income communities were an underserved part of their customer base, Duke Energy Florida launched the NES Program in 2006, building on the lessons learned from other low-income programs going back to the ’90s. While the utility’s existing weatherization program was beneficial for many customers, not all low-income customers were eligible for or interested in in-depth weatherization services.

A pilot that debuted in 2006 offered a neighborhood-based, canvassing-style program that relied on customers being home when technicians are in the area and on the ability to build customer trust to convince them that the program is completely free. The success of the pilot led to the launch of a full-scale program in 2007 with Honeywell serving as a strategic partner and program implementer.

Since the pilot program’s inception in 2006, Duke Energy Florida has implemented NES in more than 70 communities across Florida and installed more than 700,000 energy efficiency improvements in more than 50,000 income-eligible customers’ homes. Duke Energy Florida and Honeywell have shown that a community-based approach can quickly and significantly lower the energy bills for a large number of low-income participants.

With the addition of the new case study, there are now 45 success stories available in our archive from a wide range of electricity providers across the United States and Canada, including Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Ameren Illinois, Cobb EMC, London Hydro, AEP Ohio, NB Power, ComEd and Consumers Energy.