Pineville, La. – Today, Cleco awarded St. Tammany Parish Government $43,001.42 in cash incentives for its commitment to energy efficiency. 

St. Tammany Parish Government, a Cleco customer and participant in Cleco’s CitySmart Program, completed lighting upgrades that help improve energy usage and reduce energy costs.  In total, 2,208 fixtures were upgraded to LEDs across four buildings saving 430,014 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this is the equivalent of eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from 34,005 gallons of gasoline or the electricity use of over 31.9 homes for one year. 

“This program has yielded incentives that we are touting today, but the ripple effect of these savings will continue for years to come,” said Pat Brister, St. Tammany Parish President. “The taxpayers will ultimately reap the benefits through the lowered energy costs which will be compounded through these energy-efficient enhancements to our facilities. I applaud our Facilities team for their hard work. ”

Since participating in Cleco’s City Smart Program, St. Tammany Parish Government has received $102,448.01 in incentives and is estimated to save over 1,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. This kWh savings is projected to continue over the extended life expectancy of the new LEDs that were installed.

Cleco’s CitySmart Program is designed to provide assistance and financial incentives for installing energy efficiency measures in large commercial and industrial facilities owned or run by municipal or parish governments.

“The CitySmart Program is one of many energy efficiency programs that provide assistance and financial incentives to Cleco customers for installing energy efficiency measures that reduce energy consumption,” said Richard Sharp, director of Cleco Solutions. “There also are programs available to residential customers, as well as small and large privately owned businesses.”

Launched in November of 2014, Cleco’s energy efficiency programs have awarded its customers over $4.5 million in incentives for completed energy efficiency projects which can lead to lower bills for customers.  Incentives include rebates for energy efficient improvements, such as duct sealing, air sealing, LED retrofits, insulation upgrades, air conditioning tune-ups and mail-in rebates for energy efficient appliances.  In addition to the monetary benefits, the programs have reduced energy consumption by over 48 million kWh which is the equivalent of eliminating the carbon dioxide emissions from 3,795,797 gallons of gasoline, according to the EPA.

For more information about Cleco’s energy efficiency programs, call 1-877-622-4047 or visit www.cleco.com. 

About St. Tammany Parish Government

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