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Colorado and national home-electrification experts urge homeowners to start now to switch to electric energy in 2023

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Winter is coming, and with it a stack of “pancaking” gas-heating rate hikes. New federal cost incentives for home electric installations kick in in January.

 

BOULDER, CO, Nov. 14, 2022 – Winter is coming, and home-electrification experts locally and nationally are urging homeowners to go electric — as a spike in home gas heating prices coincides with unprecedented new incentives for modern home systems from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Elephant Energy, a Front Range home-electrification provider, is expanding its team and service area in the run-up to 2023 to meet expected demand and recommends homeowners start planning now to go electric in the new year. 

This winter, Coloradans’ natural gas heating bills are expected to be double what they were just three years ago, based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data and projections. Natural gas prices are at a 15-year high, and public utilities have been piling on, or “pancaking” rate hikes for years with no sign of stopping.

At the same time, beginning in January, the IRA will allow homeowners to deduct up to $2,000 from their taxes for electric upgrades, making it more affordable than ever to replace old furnaces, water heaters and gas stoves with efficient electric heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves and more. That’s on top of rebates of up to $4,000 already available locally. 

“Now is the time to go electric,” Elephant Energy co-founder DR Richardson said. “If your furnace or water heater is 10-15 years old, you should be thinking about upgrading now. Don’t wait until something breaks in the middle of the winter, and you get stuck installing inefficient, last-generation equipment that you have to live with for another decade.” 

There are myriad benefits to upgrading from old, gas-burning systems. Upgrading lowers monthly utility bills by hundreds of dollars per year, improves air quality in homes by eliminating harmful particulates from burning gas, and dramatically reduces a home’s carbon footprint. Switching to electric costs less up front than replacing a traditional furnace and air conditioner, and every installation involves a tax credit, rebate, or other incentive. 

Jules Kortenhorst is an international expert on energy transition and most recently served as CEO of RMI, an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization of energy experts. “Burning gas in buildings is not only a threat to climate action but also to human health, as gas appliances are sources of indoor air pollution,” Kortenhorst said. “The good news is, Coloradans will find that it’s easier than ever to make the switch, and there are significant cost savings to be gained.”

Modern electric technology is efficient, but navigating the installation process on your own isn’t. Elephant Energy is a one-stop shop that uses deep building science and proprietary technology to make it easy for homeowners to confidently go electric.  After designing a home-specific roadmap for a customer, Elephant Energy manages every step of the installation process – including applying available tax credits and rebates – to deliver all the benefits of modern, electric upgrades for the best value. 

As the nonprofit Rewiring America recently wrote, “It’s important to acknowledge the hardship of this heightened energy burden that will be felt by so many this winter. But it’s incumbent on us to get the facts right. The best solution is to electrify. As quickly and thoroughly as possible.”

Serving the Denver-Boulder corridor since 2021, Elephant Energy is expanding into Fort Collins, with additional markets opening next year. The startup closed on a $3.5M seed round of funding in September 2022, led by Building Ventures, with participation from Daniel Gulati of Treble, and others. 

Learn more at elephantenergy.com.

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About Elephant Energy

Founded by DR Richardson and Josh Lake in 2021, Elephant Energy is on a mission to build the ecosystem needed to scale residential electrification across millions of homes in Colorado and throughout the United States. The company’s platform provides homeowners and contractors with the resources to diagnose, convert, install, and service modern electrical systems, including heat pumps, hybrid heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, and electric vehicle chargers. Learn more at elephantenergy.com.

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Elephant-Atmos Partnership

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We’re excited to announce a new partnership with Atmos Financial!

Here’s the way most banks work: They take your deposits and use that money to invest. Those investments generate a financial return. That financial return then covers the operating cost of the bank and is what enables them to provide you (typically measly) interest rates. So said another way, your deposits (what’s in your savings and checking accounts) is not just sitting there in a vault somewhere. Instead, that capital is being used to generate a financial return for the banks and their shareholders (and, if you’re lucky, maybe you).

Here’s the catch though. These banks are investing in both good stuff and in bad stuff. In the good stuff column, they’re often lending to renewable energy projects like solar and wind, large infrastructure projects like ports and airports, and commercial credit like the construction of a new housing development. But there’s also a bad stuff column. For example, since 2015 (when the Paris Agreement was signed), the top-5 global banks have invested over $1 trillion in fossil fuels (tar sands oil, new coal plants, etc.). Yes, you read that correctly – your personal savings are being used to invest in stuff that is bad for the planet. Obviously it’s not all bad, but it’s not all good.

Enter Atmos Financial. They’re part of a new breed of neobank* that wants to align customers’ deposits with their values. Atmos is focused on climate change, so they use your deposits only for climate-positive investments. Instead of using your money for both good and bad stuff, they just do the good stuff: clean energy and projects that fight global warming.

Plus, since they’re not burdened with the legacy of old systems and processes, they use software to deliver a better customer experience at a lower cost. What does this mean? They can pay you a higher savings rate. They can charge lower fees. And what we’re most excited about, they pay you cash back on climate-aligned brands. Starting today, you can get 2% cash-back when you use your Atmos account to pay for your Elephant Energy membership.

As part of this partnership, we took their services for a spin. Here’s what we found:

  • Setting up a new account was a breeze. It uses the latest/greatest customer sign-up flow and took less than 5 minutes.

  • I was able to transfer money into my savings account using Plaid (a very trustworthy partner) – so I felt good about my money being in good hands.

  • Once I had a savings account, I was able to open a checking account in literally 1 minute.

  • I was able to transfer money from my savings account to my checking account in 1 minute. With a funded checking account, I got a virtual debit card instantly, which meant I could use the card that minute to make purchases. Compare that with the process of getting a new card from Wells Fargo – it literally takes days.

  • The user interface is clean, simple, and transparent. It’s honestly a breath of fresh air compared with the clunky user interfaces I have with Wells Fargo and Chase.

Elephant Energy Atmos Dashboard.png

Take their FDIC-insured accounts for a ride and let us know what you think!

*What’s a neobank? Neobanks are 100% insured by the FDIC but don’t have their own banking charter. Instead, they ‘borrow’ other banks’ charters to be able to provide you with banking services. As a user, it (so far) is functionally the same.

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Elephant Green & Gold

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Announcing the launch of Elephant Green and Elephant Gold!

Want to do your part to help fight climate change but don’t know how? Did you know that powering your home with renewable energy is one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that? Maybe you’ve thought about rooftop solar, but are in the 70% of households that it doesn’t work for?

Well, we’re excited to launch Elephant Green and Elephant Gold – a fast and affordable way to transition to 100% renewable energy today.

Elephant Green: For just $10/mo, we match your home electricity use with energy from wind and solar projects across the country. And we ensure your Membership is having any impact by showing you where your energy comes from.

Elephant Gold: Upgrade your impact. For $20/mo, match your home electricity use with energy from wind and solar projects in your state/region.

Additionally, we want to help you live more comfortably and sustainably. As part of the Membership, we provide discounts to our Electrify Everything Marketplace where you can find the best energy conservation and management products (think smart thermostats, LED light bulbs, and more). And, we give you access to our Elephant Concierge to answer any questions you might have about energy and sustainability – electric vehicles, heat pumps, and more.

We’re live nation-wide starting today. Simply join here and we’ll take care of the rest. Or, if you’re interested in learning more, head over to How it Works.

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