With free energy assessments as the prize, everyone wins
CHICAGO—For many people, springtime means March Madness. And while that phrase is usually synonymous with college basketball playoffs, this past spring Peoples Gas put a different spin on it, holding a “March Madness” pilot competition on behalf of energy efficiency and energy education.
The company chose four Chicago organizations as community partner-advocates to actively compete with one another to encourage the most local small businesses to schedule free energy assessments through the Peoples Gas Energy Efficiency Program.
The winning organization was the Beverly Area Planning Association, a group that has been serving the Southside residents of Beverly Hills and Morgan Park for more than 70 years. BAPA spread the word about the energy efficiency program through social media, e-news sites and old-fashioned person-to-person promotion.
Even though the BAPA staff won the first-place award—which came with a $500 prize—the true beneficiaries were the 19 small businesses across the city that received free energy assessments through the competition. Of those 19, 11 of them were within BAPA’s area.
Businesses that scheduled the assessments received a number of free energy-saving products, including programmable thermostats, pipe insulation and faucet aerators. They also were eligible for rebates for energy-efficient upgrades for furnaces and boilers, HVAC optimization, demand-controlled ventilation and more.
“We are excited about BAPA’s continued commitment to helping us provide energy-saving opportunities to residents and businesses,” said Yvette Pittman, government and community relations representative, Peoples Gas.
For utilities interested in running a similar competition, Peoples Gas recommends starting early with promotion, identifying those energy-efficiency ambassadors at each community organization who will be motivated to encourage and support their team, maintaining frequent contact with community organizations, and being fully invested in the success of those organizations—supplying marketing materials and responding to any questions as they arise.