Energy Savers Network Through Duke Energy Provides Retrofits for Lifelong Savings

Talia Boyd was spending over $300 a month to keep her home just outside Asheville, North Carolina, cool this summer. It was an enormous sum for the single-wide trailer she shares with her baby daughter and teenage son. But now, the air leaks have been sealed, a door has been replaced, and a new heat pump has been installed — all at no cost to Boyd. Her monthly utility bill from Duke Energy has been cut in half, she said.

The improvements are thanks to Energy Savers Network, a small nonprofit that serves Buncombe County, where Boyd lives, along with neighboring counties Henderson, Haywood, and Madison.

Boyd’s home is among the roughly 1,400 that Energy Savers Network has assisted with weatherization since its inception in late 2016. Across the state in the same time frame, thousands of other households have received similar services, mostly from community action agencies deploying federal dollars. Energy Savers Network found Boyd through Duke’s Customer Assistance Program. Part of a side deal the utility struck in 2023 to lessen the blow of its rate hikes, the program offers a monthly credit of up to $42 on bills for households at or below 150% of the federal poverty level — about $50,000 for a family of four.