Groundswell’s SOUL™ program (Save On Utilities Long-term) funds home safety and efficiency upgrades that lessen energy burdens and build community resilience for extreme weather. SOUL™ helps reduce utility bills by enhancing home energy efficiency, focusing on senior citizens and hardworking families facing high energy costs.
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.
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.
Increased access to energy efficiency upgrades = lower electric bill and increased comfort & health.
Lower operating costs created by decreases in peak demand. Deferred investment in peak power. Opportunity for improved customer satisfaction. Preemptively meeting regulatory requirements.
Investment in training, local jobs, and small businesses. Improved quality of housing.
LaGrange SOUL, LaGrange, GA
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.
"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
Want to learn more or interested in the project, reach out to us.
