Direct Energy Assists Customers Through High-Consumption Summer Months
Proactive pricing action, renewed 'Fresh Start' among retailer's efforts
HOUSTON, July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Energy and its Texas affiliates are adding to their year-round, customer-assistance initiatives to help Texans through the high-consumption summer months by introducing a replenished Fresh Start program and lowering the age requirement for senior deposit waiver to 62 years of age.
The two newest initiatives complement the year-round assistance programs the company has in place, and proactive price reductions for over half of all of its residential customers this year.
"We understand the impact the economy has had on some of our customers' ability to pay their monthly household expenses," said Phil Tonge, President, Direct Energy Mass Markets. "Direct Energy believes our role as a leading electricity retailer in Texas is to work with customers proactively to avoid getting to the point of service interruption. We encourage customers who are experiencing financial difficulty to proactively contact us so that we can help them keep the lights on this summer."
Fresh Start is a Direct Energy-managed program that provides direct bill payment assistance to customers facing financial hardship. Fresh Start focuses on assisting those customers who do not qualify for available low-income assistance funding, but are experiencing financial hardship in making their monthly household payments. Direct Energy has committed $300,000 to the program, which will also be made available to customers deemed critical care.
In addition, Direct Energy has lowered its senior deposit waiver age requirement to 62 years from the previous age of 65 beginning August 3rd through September 30, 2009.
Other initiatives in place for Direct Energy customers include:
Over $500,000 commitment to Neighbor-to-Neighbor bill-payment assistance program for Direct Energy customers, managed through over 30 community action agencies across the state; provides up to $600 of assistance in a calendar year to customers in financial need
Price "freeze" for all Direct Electricity Plan variable-priced customers with affiliates CPL Retail Energy and WTU Retail Energy through August 30th
Proactive call-blasts to LIDA-eligible customers with information on bill-payment assistance programs available through agencies in their area
Coming in August, proactive communication with customers who are working down past-due balances with bill credit offer for receiving agency assistance
Creation of landing page at www.directenergy.com/wecare and an information booklet to give customers easy access to information on agencies in their area that provide low-income home energy assistance programs
Support of Salvation Army of McAllen's Beat the Heat campaign through affiliate CPL Retail Energy; donation of $7,000 towards the purchase of 500 fans and 10 air conditioning units for distribution to vulnerable customers in the McAllen area
Launch of a first-in-kind pilot program in Corpus Christi under affiliate CPL that marries residential demand-response with a whole-home energy efficiency audit and free energy efficiency measures to 350 participants
Ongoing work as a partner in the City of Houston's Residential Energy Efficiency Program (REEP), weatherizing at no charge to the homeowner thousands of homes each year in Houston's oldest and less affluent neighborhoods; program results have seen home usage reductions averaging 19 percent
Payment plan arrangements and payment extensions for eligible customers
Affiliate CPL held a sweepstakes for South Texans, with the grand prize being a year's worth of mortgage payments up to $40,000; and secondary prizes of a summer's worth of free electricity or a month's worth of groceries
In addition, Direct Energy continues to offer information and services to help Texans better understand their energy usage and what changes can be made to keep that usage in check without sacrificing too much on home comfort. In Houston, a flat-price whole home energy audit provides the resident with a view similar to a "miles-per-gallon" score of their home's performance when it comes to energy efficiency and usage, along with a detailed report with recommended changes, and their payback period. The audits are performed by HERS-certified auditors, who are trained to make the assessments and provide a comparison to current building standards, as well as EnergyStar-rated homes. For those outside of Houston, a comprehensive online audit and energy efficiency tips and products can be found at www.directenergy.com/energycenter.
"We offer competitive pricing for new customers, and flexible options and education to existing customers to help everyone get through the high-consumption summer months, and all year-round," said Tonge.
About Direct Energy:
Direct Energy is part of the Centrica group of companies, one of the largest multi-state providers of retail energy services in North America. The North American operations have grown to more than 5 million residential and commercial customer relationships. Through its Direct Energy, CPL and WTU brands, the company is the third largest retail energy provider in Texas, and owns natural gas-fired power-generation facilities and a series of energy-related services companies. Globally, the Centrica group of companies is a leading provider of energy and other essential services with approximately 32 million customer relationships. For more information, visit www.directenergy.com.
