Four years ago, Carolyn Humphries moved back into the 3-bedroom home in Ooltewah where she grew up and quickly discovered the 71-year-old home lacked adequate insulation or modern heating and air conditioning, often pushing up her electric bill to as much as $350 a month.
In the winter of 2018 when Humphries was forced to use space heaters and an electric fire place to keep warm, she got a monthly electric bill for over $600 from EPB and she knew she had to do something to lower her utility costs.
“I was in a very bad situation and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Humphries recalled. “My windows were leaking; the front door was not safe and there was practically no insulation.”
Humphries, who was newly divorced at the time and has since retired for health reasons, ultimately found relief from the same utility that was sending her monthly bills she could no longer afford.
With the aid of its wholesale power supplier – the Tennessee Valley Authority – EPB provided Humphries a new heating and cooling system, window and attic insulation and even a new front door through its Home Uplift program. The energy upgrades provided to Humphries cut her average monthly electric bill to only $86, or less than a third of what she had been paying.