The United Illuminating Company

The United Illuminating Company (UI) is an electric transmission and distribution utility serving 17 Connecticut communities and providing electricity and energy-related services to more than 325,000 customers. UI offers energy efficiency programs through the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund under Energize Connecticut, a statewide program helping consumers save money through energy efficiency. UI is receiving ENERGY STAR® recognition for an initiative to advance the market for ENERGY STAR light-emitting diode (LED) lighting targeted to serve distressed communities in Connecticut. Key accomplishments in 2014 include:

• Offering “The Great Light Bulb Exchange,” a six-month promotion targeted to customers in hard-to-reach segments of UI’s market—specifically, elderly, low-income, and bilingual customers who had not yet made the switch from incandescent lighting to ENERGY STAR certified lighting.
• Focusing “The Great Light Bulb Exchange” on six economically depressed municipalities in Connecticut, and partnering with lighting manufacturers and retailers to help customers in these communities exchange in excess of 4,000 incandescent bulbs for ENERGY STAR LED bulbs, realizing an estimated lifetime savings of about 5.3 million kilowatt hours and $1 million in lifetime utility bill savings.
• Influencing the market for ENERGY STAR LED bulbs beyond the targeted communities, driving the sale of more than 175,000 ENERGY STAR LEDs, a 500 percent sales lift from the same timeframe in 2013.