Consumers Energy Provides Over $700,000 in Upgrades, Rebates to Nonprofit Organizations Across Michigan

Houses of Worship, Community Groups Among 410 to Benefit

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Dec 15, 2015, 06:00 ET

JACKSON, Mich., Dec. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Places of worship, homeless shelters and food banks are among 410 Michigan nonprofit organizations that Consumers Energy has helped this year with over $700,000 in energy efficiency upgrades and rebates – the energy provider's largest outreach yet to help community organizations to reduce their costs.

"Our Nonprofit Initiative has made an impact on hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the last three years, allowing them to put their dollars toward helping those in need," said Garrick Rochow, Consumers Energy's vice president and chief customer officer.

"We fulfill our Promise to care for the communities we serve by helping these organizations lower and manage their energy bills."

Consumers Energy provided free installations of energy-saving items, financial incentives or free energy assessments to 410 organizations to help them reduce their energy usage. For the first time, that included free upgrades and incentives to 65 houses of worship that were identified in collaboration with Michigan Interfaith Power and Light.

These organizations will save about $230,000 annually thanks to these upgrades, which include LED lights and programmable thermostats, and free high-efficiency heaters to reduce heating costs.

"The heating units that we had in the facility were antiquated and being a nonprofit we did not have the resources to upgrade the units," said Kim Harkness, director of operations for the Greater Lansing Food Bank, which received heaters in its warehouse facility. "The energy efficiency funding that was provided for this project was the only way in which we would be able to get these new heaters."

Rochow said the help for nonprofit organizations is a reflection of the work that Consumers Energy and employees carry out to support Michigan communities. Many employees serve as volunteers for community organizations, giving more than 115,000 hours of service each year.

These nonprofit organizations also are benefitting from energy efficiency upgrades that can help businesses and households to lower their bills. The company has helped Michigan save over $855 million through energy efficiency since 2009. Learn more about energy efficiency at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/save.

"We are proud to help these nonprofit organizations to manage their costs, and we encourage anyone who is interested in doing the same to learn more about the many energy efficiency programs and almost 400 business rebates that we offer," Rochow said.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.6 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

For more information about Consumers Energy, go to www.ConsumersEnergy.com.

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NONPROFITS HELPED: The following nonprofit organizations were among those helped by Consumers Energy this year:

Houses of worship – 65 locations
Community Action Agency – 10 locations
United Way – Two locations in Jackson
Goodwill Industries – Flint, Bay City, Fenton, Inlay City
Volunteers of America – Two locations in Lansing, plus Corunna and Burton
Habitat for Humanity – Flint, Bay City and Owosso
Salvation Army – Three locations in Flint, two in Mount Pleasant, one in Pontiac and one in Southfield