RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominion
Virginia Power is marking the first
year anniversary of its expanded EnergyShare program with volunteer
events in three regions and a pledge to extend the program's
educational reach. At events held in Alexandria, Petersburg and Virginia Beach today, Dominion executives
joined EnergyShare volunteers, partnering agencies and dignitaries
to weatherize homes and measure the program's success.
"Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our EnergyShare team and our
great partners across the state, we've been able to assist more
than 14,100 families and individuals with energy bills and provide
professional energy-efficiency improvements to 7,000 homes in one
year's time," said Robert M. Blue,
president of Dominion Virginia Power. "Looking ahead, we will build
on that momentum and educate even more Virginians on the best ways
to manage and reduce their energy costs."
"The progress we have made over the past year demonstrates the
impact simple, low-cost energy efficiency measures can have on
lowering energy bills," said Gov. Terry
McAuliffe. "In addition to working directly with
consumers to use energy more efficiently, I am challenging Dominion
to expand its efforts to educate Virginians on the value of energy
conservation both to their own budgets and our efforts to
combat global warming.
Our electric utilities are in the perfect position to drive this
education and outreach and that is what this challenge is all
about."
"We accept Gov. McAuliffe's challenge and pledge to hold about
400 education events in the coming year," said Blue. "We will
continue to place strong emphasis on the energy-efficiency measures
that any consumer can take to reduce energy usage and save on their
bills."
Since the program's inception in 1982, Dominion Virginia Power
and its customers, employees, retirees and business partners have
contributed more than $75 million to
EnergyShare to strengthen the communities we serve. The program has
helped more than 775,000 individuals and families pay their energy
bills.
To expand the educational component of EnergyShare, Dominion
will provide training and materials to dozens of employees who will
serve as energy efficiency representatives to speak at schools,
professional organizations and other community venues. To schedule
a speaker for your community event, please visit
dom.com/speaker.
In addition, EnergyShare's core team of energy experts will
continue to work with regional weatherization partners, state
assistance agencies and others to provide bill payment assistance,
energy efficiency guidance and professional weatherization services
to eligible EnergyShare recipients.
Dominion launched its expanded EnergyShare program one year ago,
on Sept. 1, 2015, pledging to invest
$57 million from 2015-2019 to expand
the reach and breadth of the program in response to directives from
Gov. McAuliffe and the General Assembly. Since then, EnergyShare
has partnered with more than 140 agencies and weatherization
providers; helped more than 800 veterans and 1,000 individuals
living with disabilities, held more than 200 outreach events and
weatherized more than 7,000 homes.*
*Includes about 1,850 homes weatherized through EnergyShare
and 5,150 through a Dominion Energy Conservation program.
EnergyShare helps eligible customers facing financial hardship
pay heating or cooling bills when all other forms of assistance
have been exhausted. Virginia residents can call 2-1-1 for
referrals to health and human services resources. For more
information about weatherization, call 1-888-366-8280. For
details on donating or applying for EnergyShare, visit
www.dom.com/EnergyShare-va
About Dominion Virginia Power
Dominion Virginia Power is a subsidiary of Dominion
(NYSE: D), one of the nation's largest producers and transporters
of energy. Dominion provides energy or products and services to
more than 5 million customers in 14 states. It has a portfolio of
approximately 25,700 megawatts of generation and 6,500 miles of
electric transmission lines. Dominion also operates one of the
nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 933 billion cubic
feet of storage capacity. For more information about Dominion,
visit the company's website at www.dom.com.
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SOURCE Dominion