© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Effort to cut energy bills includes solar power, upgrades

TRAVERSE CITY, MI (AP)--   A utility in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula is taking part in a pilot program to help low-income customers cut their power bills through renewable energy and energy waste reduction efforts.

Officials say Cherryland Electric Cooperative expects to help lower energy bills for 50 low-income households in the utility's six-county electric service territory. It's part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Energy for Low Income Communities Accelerator program.

Cherryland helped identify households that did weatherization upgrades and completed a home energy assessment. Each participant gets shares in the Spartan Solar community solar array in Cadillac and will get a credit on their bills totaling about $350 per year.

The Michigan Agency for Energy provided an $80,000 grant to help support the project and has posted more details on its website.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.