Tacoma Power’s Income Qualified Rental Program was recently awarded the Leadership in Energy Efficiency Award for Innovative Collaboration by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.
“The Tacoma Power team was recognized for the utility’s innovative approach to reducing the energy burden of income-qualified customers living in rental properties through a unique collaboration between utilities, government organizations, trade allies and property owners,” NEEA said on Dec. 4.
The Board of Directors of NEEA recently honored the winners of the 2023 Leadership in Energy Efficiency Awards.
The alliance recognized standout teams and individuals in both natural gas and electric efficiency for outstanding collaboration, innovative solutions, and career-long contributions to advancing energy efficiency in the Northwest.
The alliance also presented a Chairperson’s Award, in recognition of individual dedication and effective, long-term commitment to the alliance’s work.
“Tacoma Power was thrilled to learn our innovative income qualified rental program won this award. Helping income-constrained customers reduce their energy burden is a priority for our utility,” said Jackie Flowers, Director of Tacoma Public Utilities.
“I’m proud of our residential customer energy programs team for pushing through barriers to find new and different solutions, inviting our community into the process, and leveraging our strong partnership with the local housing authority to create an offering that ultimately helps our tenant community reduce their utility bill and increase their comfort,” she said.
In October 2022 Tacoma Power launched the Income Qualified Rental Program to reduce the energy burden of income-qualified customers living in rental properties. For two years prior to the program launch, the development team embarked on an outreach effort to gather stakeholder input to help design a program, Tacoma Public Utilities noted in a Linkedin post.
The goal was to develop a program that would appeal to property owners, address the split incentive issue, reduce the energy burden of our most vulnerable population, and support affordable housing initiatives in the City of Tacoma,
“To date, this collaboration between utility staff, community agencies, the trade ally community, and customers has resulted in a reduced energy burden for 12 households with 13 more in the pipeline,” Tacoma Public Utilities noted.
