If you’re a low-income earner living in Connecticut, I have great news for you. You may be eligible for Connecticut’s Shared Clean Energy Facility Program.
Connecticut is popular for its pro-clean energy policies, offering many incentives and exemptions to encourage residents to adopt clean energy.
However, installing a solar panel is still expensive for the average low-income resident.
Thankfully, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has come up with the Shared Clean Energy Facility Program (SCEP): an initiative that’s targeted at helping low-income customers and individuals who are unable to lease or purchase solar panels gain access to renewable energy.
But, what is the Shared Clean Energy Facility Program? Who is eligible? And how do you apply?
Read on to find the answers to these questions and much more.
The Connecticut Shared Clean Energy is designed to help people who cannot participate in a traditional solar program due to several reasons. The state of Connecticut has several policies that make it easy for most residents and businesses to lease or purchase a solar installation. However, there remains a fraction of people who still can not install these panels. Such people may be eligible for this program.
If you:
- Live in a rented house
- Cannot afford solar installations
- Live in a house whose rooftop orientation is unsuitable for panel installation
- Live on a shaded property
You stand the chance of benefitting from this program.
You can overcome these barriers by subscribing to a Shared Clean Energy Facility (SCEF) to directly benefit from the facility’s energy production.
The clean energy is generated in a separate facility and then distributed to you. This way, you do not need to worry about getting the infrastructure for generating the power, you only need to pay a designated subscription fee.
Remember, the main aim of this program is to tackle the above-stated barriers so that more Connecticut residents can participate in the renewables market.
Who Is Eligible to Participate in This Solar Savings Program?
This Shared Clean Energy Facility Program (SCEP) is administered by Eversource and United Illuminating (UI), you must be a customer of either one of these utility service providers to be eligible.
The program is open to both residential and non-residential customers who meet the eligibility requirements. According to UI’s official website, you must fall into one of the categories listed below;
- State, municipal, and commercial customers (state customers must belong to an office, commission, board, or institution of one of the state’s systems while a municipal customer must represent a municipality)
- Other residential customers who are unable to install behind-the-meter PV
- Landlord of an Affordable Housing Facility
- Low-income Service Organizations (I.e., non-profit or for-profit organizations that assist low-income residents).
- Other non-Residential Customers
- Small Businesses whose peak demand average falls between 10kW to 200kW
- Income-eligible residential customers
For the sake of this post, I’ll focus on the income eligibility requirements for residential customers. However, you will find detailed explanations of these different customer categories, alongside their eligibility requirements on their official website.
Note that the state government has a specified allocation percentage for the enrollment of eligible participants. 20% of people enrolled must be low-income, 10% must be small businesses and 40% must be a combination of low and moderate-income households, affordable housing, and nonprofits.
To qualify as a residential customer, you must either stay in a house where you can’t have solar installations or be a moderate to low-income customer.
If you fall into the first category, your EDC will ask that you present documented proof when applying for the program. This could either be a copy of your rental agreement, a copy of the SCEF’s non-feasible solar form, or a letter from the appropriate authority stating that you don’t have permission to install solar on your home.
The income threshold for eligibility is different depending on the utility provider you are using and the size of your household.
For Eversource customers, the income benchmark starts at $69,255 for a one-person household and caps at $183,793, for an eight-person household.
UI is a little more complicated. According to their official site, the income benchmark for eligibility is different for different municipalities. It goes as low as $78,750 for a one-person household and rises to $168,563 for an eight-person household.
As I said, your income eligibility requirement depends on your municipality. To find out the income eligibility for your municipality, go here.
How Does This Program Benefit Low-Income Customers?
The Shared Clean Energy Facility Pilot Program provides bill credits for participating customers. Please note that you will also be charged a subscription rate to participate in this program. Your utility service provider determines your bill credits by multiplying your average monthly electric usage by $0.025.
This amount will be credited to your bill monthly for 20 years.
As a low-income customer, you save on utility bills by deducting the monthly bill credit from your subscription fee. If you have a backlog of bills to clear, your monthly credit will be removed from your pending bills.
Depending on your subscription and your bill credit, the amount you’re saving might not be much, but imagine how much it aggregates to in 20 years!
How to Apply For This Program
Participation in this program is mainly by selection. The utility companies are responsible for identifying eligible low to moderate-income customers. Most eligible customers are notified and automatically subscribed.
Still, if you meet all the eligibility requirements but you’ve not been notified, you can apply. However, note that the window for application is small. By this, I mean, that the Connecticut government opens up a small percentage of the available slots to voluntary applicants. And even then, there is often a long waitlist.
Eversource and UI select about 80% of applicants for the program, leaving 20% of the slots open to voluntary enrollment.
The application process for UI and Eversource differs slightly. Nevertheless, you can use the guidelines below to start your application process.
Before applying, you must confirm your eligibility by visiting your utility company’s SCEF page. Once you confirm your eligibility, you can proceed to fill out and submit the form.
The appropriate authorities will review your application and contact you to request documents that prove your eligibility. You can find a list of the necessary documents here.
Once you are determined eligible, you will be put on the SCEF waitlist, after which you’ll be notified if you’re selected.
Residents who are already participants of any of the programs listed below automatically qualify for SCEF and do not need to upload any documentation.
The eligible utility programs are:
- New Start
- Electric Discount Rate
- Matching Payment Program
- Winter Protection Plan (Hardship)
- Beneficiaries of the Home Energy Solutions Income Eligible program within the last 3 years
Please note that application for this program is free and voluntary. If you are chosen by your utility company to participate, you retain the right to refuse the offer.
Also, depending on your average monthly electric usage, the amount you’re saving on utility bills might not be much at a glance. However, given the program runs for 20 years, it does accumulate significantly.
Relief Recap
Connecticut’s Shared Clean Energy Facility Program makes it possible for low and medium-income households to save on utility bills. The program especially targets residents who can not afford solar installation or stay in houses where solar installation is difficult. Interested individuals can voluntarily apply if they are customers of United Illuminating or Eversource.
Low Income Relief Team
This article is the product of a team effort! Multiple authors from the Low Income Relief team have contributed to this post. We have also used AI tools to organize data and refine the writing in accordance with our Responsible AI Use Policy. All articles on our website are reviewed by our founder and resident poverty expert, Nicole Thelin, prior to publication.