If you live in Vermont, energy companies want to help you lower your usage and save some money — really.
As the Milton Independent reported, programs exist from Efficiency Vermont, Vermont Gas, and Green Mountain Power that can help residents get energy-efficient appliances at a much lower cost.
Upgrading appliances not only modernizes your home but can also significantly reduce your reliance on the grid, making your home more prepared for those inevitable outages.
Efficiency Vermont provides rebates on energy-efficient appliances, as well as free virtual home-energy visits. Low-income families can receive appliances for zero or little cost, such as a refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner, or washing machine, plus free LED light bulbs.
Vermont Gas offers weatherization rebates for items like new thermostats, as well as home energy audits.
Green Mountain Power, meanwhile, offers up to $10,500 off the purchase price of a battery-storage system if users share some of their generated energy with the utility. In addition, they offer discounted rates on electric-vehicle charging, equivalent to paying $1.20 for a gallon of gas.
Batteries pair particularly well with renewable-energy sources, such as at-home solar panels. When panels produce more energy than what is needed at that moment, batteries store the excess, allowing homes to have clean, low-cost energy, even when the sun isn't shining.
Stored energy can also be shared with utilities, allowing them to provide more clean energy to consumers, to use low-cost energy when rates are high, and to have a steady backup in case the grid falters. When enough homes do this, it provides utilities with a "virtual power plant" that can power large areas.
"By using clean energy and networking these technologies, what we're doing is we're reducing costs at the most expensive time for power use, and that benefits all of our consumers," Green Mountain Power's Kristin Kelly told the Independent. "It saved potentially up to $3 million in one hour recently."
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