Central Hudson Earns EPA Award, Exceeds Heat Pump Goal and More

Central Hudson's energy efficiency programs and incentives continue to reduce energy use across the Mid-Hudson Valley. In 2023 alone, energy efficiency measures taken by Central Hudson's customers saved an annualized 54 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and more than 80,000 decatherms of natural gas. Since 2009, these programs saved households and business more than $107 million in energy costs, avoided nearly 1.3 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually and reduced energy demands by enough to power 64,600 homes for a year.

Energy Star Award

This year, Central Hudson received the 2024 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for Sustained Excellence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. It is the seventh consecutive year Central Hudson has been recognized by the Energy Star Program and the third year receiving the highest honor of sustained excellence.

The Central Hudson residential lighting program incentivized 988,401 ENERGY STAR certified LEDs and saved 2,832 MWh in 2023. More than 5 million ENERGY STAR certified LEDs have been incentivized since 2016, and more than 128,000 MWh have been saved. Central Hudson was also recognized for promoting and incentivizing the purchase of ENERGY STAR® certified smart thermostats, electric heat pumps and heat pump water heaters.

"We are honored to receive the 2024 Energy Star Partner of the Year award," said Central Hudson President Steph Raymond. "Our team's dedication to helping customers incorporate sustainable practices not only contributes to a healthier planet but also exemplifies the core values of our organization."

Energy Leadership

"We are partnering in projects that help expand the capabilities of New York's electric transmission system to bring clean, emissions-free energy to the Hudson Valley and downstate region,' said Raymond. "We also continue invest in our local energy grid so that we can best deliver energy to our customers safely, reliably and efficiently," she said.

Raymond outlined many other ways Central Hudson protects the environment:

• Central Hudson has exceeded its 6-year goal of incentivizing the installation of 12,000 heat pumps, having achieved the installation of over 19,000 units with over 6,000 homes having full space heating loads completely electrified through 2023. Additionally, Central Hudson has incentivized the purchase of almost 1,300 heat pump hot water heaters. In conjunction with the New York State Clean Heat Program, Central Hudson offers homeowners up to $1,000 off per 10,000 btus for air-source electric heat pumps for customers removing their existing conventional heating source, up to $500 per 10,000 btus for those retaining their conventional heating source and $1,000 rebate for heat pump water heaters. Since 2020, through heat pump installations under the Clean Heat Program, Central Hudson has achieved nearly 600,000 MMBtu of energy savings, more than double its target of 255,292 MMBtu through 2025 as authorized by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

• Solar installations in Central Hudson's service area remains one of the highest in the state on a per capita basis. More than 15,500 customer and developer-sited systems are installed and interconnected with a combined capacity of 312 megawatts (MW). Additional systems with 254 MW of generating capacity are pending installation. This total capacity level can supply the average annual electricity use of up to 92,000 homes while reducing carbon emissions by about 518,000 tons.
• Central Hudson customers can subscribe to a share of the electricity generated by a local solar farm or other source of clean energy through the Clean Energy Marketplace. The marketplace allows customers to search and sign up for clean, renewable energy projects in their area that can help them save on their electric bill while reducing carbon emissions.
• Since 2009, Central Hudson upgraded lighting systems in nearly 8,700 commercial and municipal buildings to high-efficiency LED fixtures.
• Central Hudson offers reduced pricing on DYI home weatherization products through partnerships with local Lowe's and Home Depot stores. Reduced price stickers can be found on various insulation products, windows, door sweeps and more.
• Central Hudson promotes electric vehicles, which are less costly to operate and reduce emissions by 60 to 85 percent. The utility will help install 2,037 Level 2 (L2) chargers and 416 Direct Current Fast Chargers (DCFC) in the service area by 2025 through partnerships with municipalities and private developers. Since the start of its EV Infrastructure Make-Ready Program in 2020, the utility has provided over $2 million in incentives supporting the energizing of L2 and DCFC plugs in its service territory. Central Hudson is also engaging municipalities and fleet owners in determining the feasibility of adopting select electric cars and trucks, including its own utility fleet.
• Central Hudson has reduced CO2 equivalent emissions from the local natural gas distribution system by more than 22,000 metric tons since 2011 through replacement of aging infrastructure.

To support these initiatives, Central Hudson continues to invest in the electric and natural gas systems to modernize the energy delivery infrastructure and enable expanded use of clean resources. State-of-the-art equipment and systems are being deployed to improve the efficiency, durability and reliability of the energy delivery system, and to reduce emissions. These improvements are also critical to integrating the growth of distributed resources such as solar and battery storage.

Central Hudson also protects the environment through its operations, for example by reusing and recycling tons of materials through a partnership with Ulster-Greene ARC started more than 30 years ago; reusing and retreading tires for its fleet; and operating three hydroelectric plants to produce local renewable power to supplement the energy needs of its customers.

For a full list of Central Hudson's residential and commercial energy efficiency programs and incentives, visit www.CentralHudson.com and click on Savings & Assistance.

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