FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 30, 2023
CONTACT: TESS MCKENNA
(617) 951-0429
CAPE COD, Mass. – Citizens Energy Corporation, in partnership with the Town of Barnstable, is urging income-eligible households in Barnstable to sign up for the JOE-4-SUN Resiliency and Affordability Program (RAP), an energy-assistance program that saves households over $600 per year on electricity.
Citizens Energy is proud to work with community leaders in the Town of Barnstable to ensure that everyone can afford to power their homes this summer.
“We have a responsibility to make clean, green choices affordable and accessible to all,” said former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III, President of Citizens Energy Corporation, founded over 40 years ago to make life’s basic needs more affordable. “We are committed to empowering our most vulnerable populations with access to the renewable energy revolution.”
Citizens Energy owns and operates six solar arrays that together generate 18 megawatts of energy that fund electricity savings for over 2,000 low-income ratepayers in Eversource and National Grid service territories in Massachusetts. The company recently won the Grand Prize of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sunny Awards, a national competition that recognizes community solar projects demonstrating best practices for their subscribers.
Made possible through the state’s SMART (Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target) initiative, JOE-4-SUN is the largest low-income solar program in Massachusetts. Typically, subscribers receive a 50% discount on clean, renewable energy credits and will save about $300 each year.
However, Citizens Energy’s newest initiative, the JOE-4-SUN RAP, brings even more savings to Cape Cod households through an innovative partnership with offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind. Low-income households in host communities of the utility-scale Vineyard Wind project are eligible for a 100% discount on clean energy credits that will lower their electric utility bill more than $600 per year.
Eligible host communities include the Town of Barnstable and its seven villages, Somerset, New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard, and members of the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe who reside anywhere in Massachusetts.
Each year, about 2,000 families who previously could not afford green power will join the renewable energy revolution thanks to JOE-4-SUN. Over the course of its 20-year lifetime, the groundbreaking program will save Bay-State families upwards of $10 million.
In addition to its Massachusetts solar projects, Citizens Energy recently unveiled the largest low-income community solar installation in the country, located in Imperial Valley, California. The 39-megawatt project, consisting of 107,000 panels, produces energy savings for 12,000 low-income households, making the Boston-based non-profit the national leader in mission-based renewable energy development.
Citizens Energy currently owns and operates over 45 solar projects from Massachusetts to California that provide energy savings to low-income families, non-profits, and municipalities.
In order to be eligible for JOE-4-SUN, renters or homeowners must be low-income ratepayers in the National Grid or Eversource service territories. They will continue to receive any discounts they have in place on top of the savings from JOE-4-SUN.
Households interested in saving with JOE-4-SUN RAP may apply online by visiting the Citizens Energy website at www.citizensenergy.com/joe4sun-rap or by calling 855-JOE-4-SUN (855-563-4786) to request a paper application. Applicants can also send an email to JOE4SUN@citizensenergy.com for further information.
