Through a number of programs, we’re able to help people manage their energy use and connect them with resources for their utility bills. We offer a variety of demand-side management programs across all customer classes to reduce energy needs. These offerings help customers use energy more efficiently and manage their energy costs.
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Energy Assistance
Community Partnerships
Foundation
Volunteerism
ENERGY ASSISTANCE
The power
of help
Energy efficiency
front and center
We offer rebate and financing programs to help customers offset the cost of energy efficient equipment and improvements for their homes. We also provide education to inform customers about opportunities to better manage energy usage, including energy audits. And we have programs designed to help nonprofits and low-income homeowners through the ABC Trust.
The Efficiency Forward Program provides grants to nonprofits to help them make their facilities more efficient, saving them money to extend their missions. Since 2007, Efficiency Forward has provided 140 grants totaling more than $1.2 million.
The Home Forward Program helps low-income families weatherize their homes. Weatherstripping, new insulation, HVAC repairs and other solutions help them save on their power usage, which is one more step in making ends meet.
To SHARE is to care
In partnership with the Salvation Army, Project SHARE allows our customers and those of rural electric cooperatives to donate money via their power bills to help pay the energy bills of low-income Alabamians aged 60 or older and/or disabled, as well as people with medical emergencies. In 2020, more than 2,000 Alabamians received assistance totaling more than $435,000.
Assistance comes in many forms
During challenging times, Alabama’s families sometimes need assistance, so in 1992, Alabama Power established the ABC Trust, to supplement energy assistance efforts. The goal of the ABC Trust is to help economically distressed Alabamians cover their energy costs by providing resources and education through partnerships with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA), Community Action Agencies and social services agencies.
The ABC Trust operates in nearly all Alabama counties. In 2020, more than 2,700 families received more than $590,000 in assistance from this fund. Since its inception, the ABC Trust has helped more than 100,000 households pay their energy bills – and donated more than $30 million in energy assistance, and to provide home weatherization and energy-efficiency optimization to low-income families and nonprofits.
ABC Trust lends a helping hand
01
Offering discounts to those receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid for Low Income Families (MLIF).
02
Helping cover costs of home energy by connecting those in need with the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
03
Assisting those with temporary financial problems through the Emergency Cooling Assistance Program and the Emergency Energy Assistance Program.
04
Supporting those who are almost – but not quite – eligible for assistance from other sources. Under federal rules and regulations, ABC Trust funds are considered matching leveraged dollars that qualify the state to receive additional federal dollars to extend our ability to help Alabama families.
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Deep involvement in local
communities is a part of who we are
At its very core, sustainability is about helping all of us flourish. It’s about making our cities better. It’s about economic growth workforce development and empowering opportunity for future generations.
Economic Development
Catalyzing growth is collaborative. We continue to partner to bring business to Alabama. In 2020, Alabama’s business climate was ranked No. 7 by Site Selection magazine.
Alabama Power has been a partner in our state’s economic development for 100 years, playing an instrumental role in the recruitment and growth, of some of the world’s best companies. In 2020, we helped create 3,000 jobs and $1.8 billion of capital investment in Alabama.
In smaller communities, we’ve partnered with the Economic Development Association of Alabama’s Rural Development Initiative to encourage regional strategic planning, and with Alabama Launchpad and CO.STARTERS to help build entrepreneurial ecosystems throughout the state.
Community Development
Creating jobs and revenue are only part of sustainable growth. Understanding what it takes for individuals and communities to thrive, we have worked in each of our six regional divisions to elevate nonprofit organizations that are instrumental in workforce development, education and helping communities through economic distress.
We have taken a leadership role on the Alabama Workforce Council and helped establish key partnerships with national organizations for the good of the state.
We have also been deeply involved with the business community to help revive distressed communities throughout the state. Empowered by the addition of Qualified Opportunity Zones, Alabama Power helped drive the formation of Opportunity Alabama. The organization helps connect investors with investable assets in Alabama’s distressed communities, generating real returns for the investors and significant improvement to the economic prosperity of the communities and quality of life of the people who live in them.
Workforce Development
In leading the Alabama Workforce Council’s Public-Private Partnership Committee, we have helped to develop a cohort of 30 nonprofits from across Alabama focused on implementing innovative programs that address barriers to education and workforce success. In helping to grow these transformative organizations, we have provided skilled grant writers and are helping to develop strategic relationships with national funders in order to scale the impact of these nonprofits. Through these collaborations, we have helped to secure $23 million in out-of-state funding for these transformative organizations.
Alabama Power helped to establish JumpStartAL, a workforce training solution built on public-private partnerships throughout Alabama. JumpStartAL seeks to create a next generation of skilled labor utilizing innovative solutions such as preparing people for higher-level jobs via a specialized training curriculum and virtual reality platform.
Likewise, the Alabama Power Foundation is working with Build UP, the nation’s first and only workforce development model that provides low-income youth career-ready skills through paid apprenticeships. Working in concert with industry-aligned secondary and early postsecondary academic coursework, Build UP guides young people into becoming educated, credentialed and empowered civic leaders, professionals, homeowners and landlords.
Foundation
The Alabama Power Foundation expands the ability to serve community needs. With a strategic focus on sustainable solutions, the foundation is creating long-term value with lasting impacts as demonstrated throughout this report.
Volunteerism
APSO and Energizers – forces for good
The Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO), which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2020, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization made up of more than 6,000 Alabama Power and other in-state Southern Company system employees and their families.
You will find members of APSO chapters volunteering their time all across the state, helping out nonprofit groups and working on charitable projects that promote the environment, workforce development and community enhancement to meet critical human needs.
On any given year, APSO members will donate more than 40,000 volunteer hours. By rolling up their sleeves and getting to work, APSO members are a major force for good in the ongoing mission to elevate the communities and people of our state.
The Energizers group, also a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is made up of some 1,200 Alabama Power and Southern Company system retirees and spouses who are committed to serving communities across Alabama through charitable programs.
Members provide support to schools, hospitals, libraries and several nonprofit organizations across the state. Energizers contribute an average of 40,000 volunteer hours a year.
In-person volunteer efforts for both groups were limited by the global pandemic, which shifted our focus to virtual volunteerism. Our volunteer force sewed much-needed face masks and isolation gowns, staffed United Way call centers, provided meal services to first responders, participated in online storytelling to engage children and provided uplifting letters and cards to nursing home residents.
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