Updates on Several Grant-Funded Projects Designed to Lower Members’ Bills
WEC’s first mandate is to provide electric power safely and reliably — and as affordably as possible. Affordability has always been a challenge in a forested, mountainous region with an average of only eight customers per mile of line — so much so that almost 90 years ago, when electric lines were getting connected across the Northeast, corporate power companies looked at the return on investment for powering central Vermont’s farms and decided to pass. But electricity is a necessity, and that’s why community members worked together to form their own rural electric cooperative, Washington Electric Co-op, that they could govern according to their own values to serve their own power needs.
Today, WEC has an innovation team focused on projects to make electricity more affordable for all members, which is consistent with cooperative values. This includes projects that make technology available to members who may not be able to take on the capital costs.
It’s a different approach from offering incentives, which lower a product’s purchase or installation price. Instead, projects like ReWire and the Energy Storage Access Program use grant funding, and sometimes collaboration across multiple utilities, to make electricity more affordable for income-eligible members by directly providing useful products. A cash incentive can make a product cost less, but with high costs of food, fuel, and everything else, a household on a tight budget may still not prioritize buying that product. Meanwhile, higher-earning households that don’t necessarily need an incentive are the ones that access them.
“Incentives are good for boosting initial widespread adoption of a product. Our goal, however, is rooted in cooperative values. When we’re looking at using public or grant funding to make electricity affordable for our members, that means reaching members who would not otherwise have access to these products. This makes these households more resilient,” said JJ Vandette, Director of Special Projects and Innovation. That resilience shows up in multiple ways, depending on the program. “Their electric bills are more affordable, fossil fuel use and cost go down, outages are less of a crisis because there’s backup,” he listed.
These measures support the whole cooperative by pairing projects with other metrics: batteries mitigate peak costs, and providing grant-funded resources before a problem occurs prevents spending more expensive resources afterward. Plus, reducing members’ stressors is healthier for the community. This is what it means to embed cooperative values into business decisions.
Five Years of Bill Credits With Community Solar
Program name: ACRE
Funding source: Federal
Partners: VEC
Number of members served: 200+
Impact: $45/month bill credit over 5 years
WEC has enrolled more than 200 members in the federally funded ACRE program (Affordable Community Renewable Energy Program). In partnership with Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC), this program directly benefits qualifying members with a monthly bill credit over five years. At $45 per month over 60 months, Vandette said, “This puts a pretty big dent in members’ electric bills.”
This puts a pretty big dent in members’ electric bills.
– JJ Vandette, on the ACRE program’s bill credit of $45/month for 60 months for participating members
The grant supports the bill credits, which frees up utilities to invest in renewable generation plants. But with an already 100% renewable portfolio provided by long-term power contracts and so much net metered solar already on the lines, WEC had little need reason to install its own solar generation plant within its territory to meet the state’s renewable goals. However, partnership between sister cooperatives, and VEC’s willingness to attach its already-built solar site to the project, helped Vermont’s two electric co-ops leverage their resources, win grant funding, and lower the bills of more than 200 WEC members.
Shoring Up Home Electric Systems
Program name: ReWire
Funding source: VLITE
Partners: Capstone
Number of members served: 12
Impact: Upgraded electric systems, weatherization
In 2022, WEC worked with Capstone to launch a project to prepare income-eligible members’ homes for electric upgrades. Members who received fuel assistance and whose homes had already been weatherized were invited to join the project. The project was developed by current WEC Board members Bill Powell and Paul Zabriskie, who were elected to the Board after retiring from Washington Electric and Capstone, respectively.
With funding from VLITE, the Vermont Low Income Trust for Electricity, the project upgraded eligible members’ home electric panels to make it easier to replace old fossil fuel devices with less expensive, more energy-efficient options. For example, a home heated with fuel oil can only switch over to heat pumps if it has the electric capacity for them. If the electric system isn’t ready when the boiler breaks, it takes more time and money to transition to the cheaper, more efficient option, no matter how many incentives are in place. Preparing households in advance to be ready for these upgrades is what Powell and Zabriskie called “future-proofing.”
Midway through the ReWire project, the national electrical code was updated. The outcome of the update, Vandette said, is that many electrical panels that previously would have been flagged for upgrading are now considered to have enough capacity. This means that going forward, panel upgrades may be a less urgent need. And because that means cost savings, Vandette added, that’s a good thing.
The project is set to conclude by the end of November. In total, 12 member households had their electrical panel capacity expanded to support future electrification projects, and were able to take advantage of some additional weatherization opportunities that came up during the work.
Home Battery Backup for Income-Eligible Members
Program name: ESAP
Funding source: State
Partners: Burlington Electric Department, Vermont Public Power Supply Authority
Number of members served: 30+
Impact: Grid-tied battery backup
WEC is one of several utilities participating in Vermont’s state-funded Energy Storage Access Program, which provides home battery systems to income-eligible member households at no cost. About 30 eligible WEC member households will receive backup power infrastructure; installations are currently underway. “The mechanics and cost benefit to the utility are similar to PowerShift,” WEC’s program that incentivizes members to charge electric vehicles at off-peak hours, Vandette explained. Batteries charge when electricity is least expensive, and utilities can draw from the grid-tied batteries when market power is more expensive. He clarified that utilities do not draw from members’ home batteries when there are storms forecast or when there is a peak event happening.
Three-quarters of the way through the project, the forecast is good. A small outage recently impacted three households with newly installed batteries. Vandette reported that when he checked in with their member-owners, the batteries had kicked on so smoothly they hadn’t even realized the power was out.
LED Lighting Throughout WEC Territory
Program name: LED Security Lighting
Funding source: Efficiency Vermont
Partners: N/A
Number of members served: 125+
Impact: Reduced load throughout service area
For many years, WEC has offered a security light to members as an opt-in tariff. That means that the light use is not metered: it’s billed as a flat fee, which includes both the fixture and the energy use. The light turns on after sunset and turns off at sunrise. And until recently, those lights were high pressure sodium bulbs. Thanks to a grant from Efficiency Vermont, WEC has swapped out all those bulbs with highly efficient LED bulbs. “That reduces the total load, which saves money for everybody,” said Vandette.
To Learn More About These Projects:
- Visit washingtonelectric.coop and click the yellow “Utility Assistance Programs and Resources” box
- Call 802-223-5245 or toll-free 800-932-5245 during work hours to speak with a Member Services Representative
- Read past Co-op Currents stories on ReWire (July 2022) and ACRE (September 2024)