Nest announced its new Power Project Thursday to help raise awareness on how energy costs can affect low-income households.
Low-income households spend three times more of their income than the United States average to heat and cool their homes, according to a release from Nest. The U.S. Average has about 3.5% of total income going toward energy bills, though one in five families can actually spend up to 20 to 50% of their income on utilities.
“Too often, the people who would benefit most from energy upgrades are least able to afford them,” Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, a partner with Nest’s Power Project, said in a release.
Nest will install one million of its thermostats, meant to save on energy usage and costs, in low- and moderate-income households over the next five years. The company will also partner with other groups to bring energy-saving technology to low-income households. Four thousand of Nest’s thermostats will go to Habitat for Humanity and 10% of Nest’s proceeds from its thermostat sales between Apr. 16 through Apr. 30, 2018 will go to Habitat for Humanity as well. Nest thermostats will also go to families using Fannie Mae’s low- to moderate-income mortgage program and to income-qualified customers of utility companies.