Save On Utilities Long term (SOUL™) reduces utility bills through energy efficiency, using a Pay As You Save (PAYS®) approach to pay for efficiency improvements with energy savings. Groundswell works with our partners at EEtility, a woman-owned B-Corp, to serve municipal and rural utilities and their member-customers. SOUL works for renters and homeowners to deliver energy savings to participating households.

About SOUL

  • Investing in housing equity through energy efficiency

    SOUL puts energy efficiency to work as an investment in housing equity and reduces utility bills through energy efficiency.

  • Energy efficiency that pays for itself

    SOUL uses a “Pay As You Save (PAYS®)” approach to pay for energy efficiency improvements with energy savings.

  • Individual solutions, scalable processes

    SOUL develops plans for individual households focusing on the improvements that will make the biggest difference for each household. It can be adapted to address individual community needs for communities across the country.

  • Addressing high energy burdens resulting from old, inefficient housing

    Older homes in these communities often have no insulation, old appliances, and other energy inefficiencies that cause higher electricity bills.

About SOUL

SOUL Model

  • SOUL partners with utility providers and uses the PAYS® (Pay-As-You-Save) system to finance energy efficiency upgrades.

  • In PAYS programs, residential energy efficiency upgrades are paid for with projected energy savings. Payments are made over time directly on the utility bill.

  • PAYS offers all utility customers the option to access cost effective energy upgrades using a proven investment and cost recovery model that benefits both the customer and the utility.

SOUL Model

Addressing Housing Quality

Poor quality of housing is a key driver of high utility bills. More than half of the low-income homes with high bills that Groundswell has assessed for SOUL require repairs before being able to move forward with energy efficiency upgrades.
 
Groundswell leverages funding from federal, state, and philanthropic partners to help address health and safety hazards in homes and to enable them to receive energy efficiency upgrades.
Addressing Housing Quality

SOUL Benefits

    Addressing Housing Quality

    Participants

    Increased access to energy efficiency upgrades = lower electric bill and increased comfort & health.

    Addressing Housing Quality

    Utility

    Lower operating costs created by decreases in peak demand. Deferred investment in peak power. Opportunity for improved customer satisfaction. Preemptively meeting regulatory requirements.

    Addressing Housing Quality

    Community

    Investment in training, local jobs, and small businesses. Improved quality of housing.

Our Work

LaGrange SOUL, LaGrange, GA

Groundswell and the City of LaGrange have partnered to create the LaGrange SOUL Program. This SOUL, or Save On Utilities Long term, program is a pilot program in the City of LaGrange which serves low- and moderate-income residents who have paid more than 20% higher than LaGrange’s average utility bills due to energy inefficiency. While the City of LaGrange has low utility costs, some residents have much higher-than-average utility bills because their homes are older, less efficient, and use more energy.

The SOUL Home Repairs program served 28 families with over $500,000 in critical home repairs within its first year. The repairs made through the program address health and safety hazards, including leaky roofs and non-functional bathrooms, making way for energy efficiency and supporting generational wealth building by enabling homes to be passed down to future generations.

Hear from SOUL Participants

"The program helped my home feel a lot more comfortable and my utilities are a lot lower."

Betty Sanders

SOUL Participant

"I was in need of a lot of things that I knew about and some that I did not, this program saved my house and probably my life as well because I could have been in that kitchen and fell right through the floor."

Patricia Cooper

SOUL Participant

"I have been bed-ridden for 20 years, and the services the program provided made my home safer and more comfortable. My new shower access is perfect, I can get in much easier and my floors are not sagging and falling in anywhere."

Jason Wade

SOUL Participant

Contact Us

Want to learn more or interested in the project, reach out to us.