John Fonfara

Women and Minority-Owned Businesses to Get Assistance With Energy Expenses

Fonfara: “Program could help finance energy efficient equipment for long term savings”

Senator John Fonfara (D-Hartford) today joined Governor Dannel P. Malloy and representatives from Dominion, PSEG and Operation Fuel to announce a new pilot program that will help women and minority owned businesses to reduce their energy consumption and costs.

“Energy costs are a significant expense for all small businesses. Due to a lack of access to information or insufficient credit, many minority and female owned businesses are unable to finance energy efficiency improvements or find other energy assistance. We hope this program will help address these problems,” said Senator Fonfara. “These initial contributions from Dominion and PSEG will enable us to identify further private funding. One of the program’s objectives could be to finance an investment in efficient technology, like new boilers, that will provide not just immediate savings, but a significant decrease in energy expenses in the years to come.”

“It’s been a long, cold winter in Connecticut, and I know this is welcome news to the minority and women small business owners across the state,” said Governor Malloy. “I’d like to thank both Dominion and PSEG for their generous contributions, and I’d like to thank Operation Fuel for implementing this important and innovative program. By helping to defray energy costs for the recipients of these grants, we can help small business owners continue to operate within their local communities. This is a great example of private industry coming out to support public interest. It’s not only a smart business move, but smart public policy, as well.”

Dominion, owner/operator of Millstone, donated $1 million to the project. PSEG, owner/operator of electrical generation plants at Bridgeport Harbor and New Haven, donated $150,000.

The program will be administered by Operation Fuel, a non-profit founded under Governor Ella Grasso in the mid-1970s. Operation Fuel helps Connecticut residents with energy assistance year round.

For more information on how businesses and homeowners can lower their electric, heating and other energy expenses, visit the Senate Democrats Energy Assistance Web Page at ../Energy.