FPL's Home Energy Makeover teams upgrade 50 Bunnell homes to help families save energy
Oct 15, 2009

BUNNELL, Fla. – In partnership with the City of Bunnell in Flagler County, Florida Power & Light Company today treated 50 local families to free Home Energy Makeovers, upgrading households to improve their energy efficiency, which helps the environment and saves customers money by reducing energy consumption.

October is National Energy Awareness Month, and FPL’s Home Energy Makeovers serve as a reminder for customers to switch off unnecessary lights and equipment, use efficient ENERGY STAR® compliant products and compact fluorescent light bulbs, and drive fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.

Bunnell Mayor Catherine Robinson issued an official proclamation designating Oct. 15 as “Energy Awareness Day” in the city. Many of the money-saving, energy-conserving solutions demonstrated today in Bunnell can be adopted by any FPL customers who want to make smarter, cleaner energy choices. The energy efficiency upgrades combined have the potential to save customers as much as 25 percent on their utility bills each year.

“It is a myth that homeowners must make major financial investments and home improvements to make a difference,” said Larry Volenec, FPL’s external affairs area manager. “The money-saving, energy-conserving solutions that FPL demonstrated today in our Home Energy Makeovers can be easily replicated at a low cost.”

Approximately 50 Home Energy Makeover team members, including FPL energy experts, city employees and volunteers made energy-efficient upgrades that included:

• Inserting refrigerator and freezer thermometers
• Installing weather stripping
• Installing water-saving showerheads and faucets
• Installing lifetime air conditioning filters
• Installing compact fluorescent lights

The Home Energy Makeover initiative leverages the combined power of FPL employees with contractor partners to tackle 50 homes in one day. Entire neighborhoods benefit from energy efficiency as customers save thousands of dollars on electric costs.

To complete 50 Home Energy Makeovers in one day, volunteers and energy experts visited the homes of residents who were pre-qualified by the City of Bunnell through an application process. The teams spent one to two hours in each home, making the upgrades and educating homeowners about other no- or low-cost measures they can take to further reduce their energy use. Many of the homeowners are senior citizens living on fixed incomes.

Since the program’s inception in 2006, more than 300 homes in the counties of St. Lucie, Miami-Dade, Sarasota, Broward, Palm Beach, Brevard and now Flagler are able to enjoy more energy-efficient homes.

FPL encourages its residential customers to visit the Energy Savings Toolkit section at www.FPL.com and take an online Home Energy Survey to find out how they can make their homes more energy-efficient.

Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) is the largest electric utility in Florida and one of the largest rate-regulated utilities in the United States. FPL serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida and is a leading employer in the state with nearly 11,000 employees. The company consistently outperforms national averages for service reliability while customer bills are well below the national average. A clean energy leader, FPL has one of the lowest emissions profiles and the No. 1 energy efficiency program among utilities nationwide. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL). For more information, visitwww.FPL.com.