The Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) has taken great steps to conserve energy, save money and help the 3,000 low-income families that participate in its public housing program. Through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) program, OHA can use the money saved on utility costs to provide more services to its residents. OHA took the program one step further by obtaining a waiver allowing it to benefit from savings on residents utility bills as well. To manage the program, OHA became the first housing authority in the nation to employ electronic utility tracking. Under the EPC and PG&E rebate partnerships, OHA has made upgrades to hundreds of units, resulting in savings to both OHA and residents of 938,000 kWh, 50,000 therms of natural gas and $296,000 dollars annually.
Judy Monnier, Oakland Housing Authority, accepts Energy Efficiency Award