For Immediate Release | November 14, 2016
Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is working with local apartment complexes to help limited-income customers save energy and reduce their monthly utility costs by using advanced programmable thermostats.
TEP is providing nearly 1,800 Nest Learning Thermostats to local apartment complexes that participate in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher Program. The thermostats will be installed at no cost to residents, who also will receive energy efficient light bulbs, educational materials with energy-saving strategies and detailed thermostat instructions.
Nest thermostat users can save an average of 15 percent on cooling bills and 10-12 percent on heating bills annually, according to the manufacturer. The thermostats can “learn” customer temperature preferences in about a week and automatically adjust to help save energy. Nest thermostats can offer suggestions to help users reduce energy usage and can be adjusted remotely using a smartphone, tablet or laptop in homes with a Wi-Fi connection.
The thermostats will be installed through a pilot program included among TEP’s energy efficiency (EE) offerings for residential and commercial customers in 2016. TEP’s customer-funded EE programs are reviewed and approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission. The programs have been proven to be cost-effective for all customers – not just those who participate – by reducing our community’s long-term need for new energy resources. A complete list of current programs is available at tep.com/efficiency.
TEP’s EE programs have produced significant environmental benefits by helping customers to save enough energy to power nearly 82,000 homes for a year. These savings help TEP work toward the goals in Arizona’s Energy Efficiency Standard, which calls on utilities to achieve cumulative energy savings of 22 percent by 2020. Participation helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, resulting in reduced air emissions and water usage.
TEP provides safe, reliable electric service to approximately 417,000 customers in southern Arizona. To learn more, visit tep.com. TEP, UES and their parent company, UNS Energy, are subsidiaries of Fortis Inc., which owns utilities that serve more than 3 million customers across Canada and in the United States and the Caribbean. To learn more, visit fortisinc.com.
