November 1
Spanish-Speaking Households More Likely to Struggle Paying Their Electric Bills
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Thirty-seven percent of Americans who speak Spanish at least half of the time at home have struggled to pay their electric bills over the last year, according to the latest survey from the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), a nonprofit organization that studies Americans’ energy-related behaviors, interests and values. Among the U.S. general population, one quarter of consumers say they have struggled to pay their electric bills.
More than 900 households have received home energy improvements through Home Uplift, a partnership of EPB Energy Pros and a Tennessee Valley Authority program that helps recipients save an average of $450 per year on energy costs. In addition to annual funding provided for Home Uplift by Tennessee public power utility EPB and matched by TVA, the City of Chattanooga invested $100,000 in the program to increase the number of customers reached.
Ameren Missouri is building a new solar facility alongside the existing Montgomery Community Solar Center in New Florence, an hour west of St. Louis. Construction of the New Florence Community Solar Center, approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission, is anticipated to begin as early as spring of next year, with the goal of opening in 2026.
In mid-October, Michigan’s Consumers Energy became the fourth utility to receive Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program funding to support the deployment of Utilidata’s distributed artificial intelligence platform to electrical meters in its territory. Consumers Energy serves around two-thirds of Michigan’s population and received $20 million in the second round of GRIP funding.
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Industry News
A network of more than 300 solar-powered homes started supplementing the New York grid this summer – the result of an unusual partnership that could unlock more localized clean energy for the state. Sunrun, the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer, teamed up with utility Orange & Rockland, which serves some 300,000 customers in the suburbs and rural areas northwest of New York City, to make a compelling offer.
DTE Energy is on pace to invest more than $4 billion this year to strengthen its electric grid and transition to cleaner sources of energy, the company said in its third quarter earnings statement last week. Already, the Detroit-based utility has spent more than $3 billion in 2024 to improve reliability and outage restoration.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. (BGE) has been selected for up to $50 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program. The funding opportunity will support BGE’s infrastructure and advanced technology investments in the electric distribution system, as well as community resiliency initiatives and workforce development programs.
At New Century Motorcycles in Alhambra, a handful of electric motorcycles are relegated to the back of the store, tucked behind the dirt bikes. The store sells one a month, at most, a salesperson said. Motorcyclists have long loved their noisy, gas-powered machines that allow them to ride long distances on highways and remote roads with few fueling stops.
