Black Hills Energy announces start of new Demand Side Management program
Black Hills Energy recently announced the start of a Demand Side Management (DSM) program that increases the company’s current low-income DSM Program investment by 70 percent and energy savings goals by 30 percent.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved Black Hills Energy to spend $6.5 million per year over the next three years on the DSM initiative. The program, which began on Jan. 1, 2019, will not result in higher monthly bills for customers.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to place more emphasis on and investment in energy efficiency, helping customers reduce wasted energy and save money,” James Dillon, senior manager of energy efficiency and demand side management for Black Hills, said. “Through a holistic approach to home energy efficiency programs, we’ll provide customers with increased incentives to implement multiple bundled energy efficiency measures.”
The DSM program was developed in cooperation with the City of Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado Energy Office, Energy Outreach Colorado, Office of Consumer Counsel and other parties.
Under the new plan, Black Hills Energy will invest more than $4 million over the next three years through three sub-programs, single-family weatherization, multi-family weatherization, and non-profit energy efficiency, to help low-income save on their energy bills.
The company will also add local staff in Pueblo who will conduct outreach to stakeholders to help encourage and support customer participation in energy efficiency programs. Black Hills will also appoint an energy efficiency coordinator to work with the City of Pueblo to identify opportunities for the City to improve energy efficiency.
Additionally, Black Hills will host community meetings with customers and stakeholders interested in energy efficiency efforts at least twice in 2019 and will work to establish parameters for feasibility studies of new energy efficiency programs proposed by Pueblo County and the Colorado Energy Office. Results of the analysis will be presented before the end of 2019.
