LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today joined the Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF), a non-profit, affordable housing provider, and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) to mark the completion of a two-year, $1 million energy efficiency project at Angelus Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. The energy efficiency upgrades are estimated to save over $150,000 annually in natural gas, equal to 160,000 therms of gas. This project will reduce emissions equal to taking nearly 200 cars off the road each year. The project is part of SoCalGas' Energy Savings Assistance Program's Common Area Measures (CAM) initiative. SoCalGas completed similar, smaller-scale energy efficiency projects at 35 RHF properties across Southern California. Please see photos from today's event here.

"At SoCalGas, our vision is to be the cleanest natural gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to our customers," said Jeff Walker, vice president of customer solutions for SoCalGas. "These energy efficiency upgrades demonstrate this commitment by helping low-income customers conserve energy and helping RHF to improve the living experience for residents through more affordable energy. SoCalGas is proud to have been a part of this work."

"I can tell you that the Angelus Plaza project happened because of what the SoCalGas team did with getting us enrolled early in site-wide energy conservation programs," said Stuart Hartman, senior vice president of operations at the Retirement Housing Foundation. "They were a true partner every step of the way. The energy audit that SoCalGas commissioned opened up the full potential for gas, electric and water savings as well greenhouse gas reductions. Our site-wide systems reliability and overall efficiencies will improve immensely."

"I'd like to congratulate Southern California Gas Company and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for completing a major energy efficiency upgrade to Angelus Plaza," said Jose Huizar, Los Angeles City Councilmember. "The project was completed at no cost to residents. This is precisely the kind of forward-thinking initiative that makes the City of Los Angeles a model for other urban areas across the nation." 

The two-year, million-dollar undertaking at Angelus Plaza, replaced six domestic hot water boilers, six space heating hot water boilers and installed one tankless hot water heater with higher efficiency equipment. The project also installed pipe insulation and on-demand boiler controls.

In partnership with LADWP, SoCalGas completed upgrades in over 1,000 of the apartment units at Angelus Plaza. This work included installing low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators, thermostatic shower valves, door weather-stripping, common area lighting, LED lights and more. Through the Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESAP), the work completed came at no cost to RHF and will improve the comfort and safety of the residents living at Angelus Plaza.

SoCalGas' Low Income and Energy Efficiency programs provided over $1 million in funding to Angelus Plaza for these improvements.

"LADWP is proud to partner with SoCalGas in this project to improve the comfort and quality of life for Los Angeles seniors," said David Jacot, P.E., Director of Energy Efficiency for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. "The long term energy, water and financial savings resulting from these energy efficiency upgrades will yield many benefits to the residents of Angelus Plaza for many years to come."

The annual energy savings for the 1,000 LED bulbs, 1,000 LED night lights and 1,000 Smart Power Strips installed under ESAP is estimated at 169,400 kilowatt hours, enough to power 28 homes. 

The water savings achieved through the simple installation of shower heads and faucet aerators is estimated at 6,862,657 gallons per year; enough to supply the annual water needs for 64 homes.

In addition 600,029 kilowatt-hours in savings were achieved through the installation of larger lighting fixtures under LADWP's Commercial Lighting Incentive Program (CLIP). This is enough energy to power 50 homes for one year, or the equivalent of removing 88 gas-powered vehicles from our highways.

In total, Angelus Plaza's participation in LADWP's Energy Efficiency programs, qualified it for $139,270 in rebates and incentives.

In addition to work at Angelus Plaza, which represents a multiyear utility and owner collaboration, SoCalGas, in partnership with LADWP, has completed upgrades at 35 other RHF properties. This represents over 5,300 affordable housing units, throughout southern California including Sun City Gardens, The Concord, Harbor Tower, and Pilgrim Tower North.

RHF has participated in SoCalGas' On-Demand Efficiency, Energy Savings Assistance and Energy Smart programs to improve the tenant experience throughout RHF's portfolio of affordable properties.

Upgrades across RHF's properties include but are not limited to:

• Energy Savings Assistance Program work:
• Over 3,000 affordable units served
• On-Demand Efficiency Program work:
• Over 3,950 units served
• Energy Smart Program work:
• Over 475 units served

SoCalGas continues to be a leader in energy efficiency and helping to reduce emissions. Over the last five years, SoCalGas energy efficiency programs delivered more than 180 million therms in energy savings for customers, enough natural gas usage for 403,000 households a year. These advances have also helped save SoCalGas customers more than $198 million in utility bill costs. In 2018 alone, SoCalGas' energy efficiency programs saved customers $57 million.

The commitment to reducing energy use is also evident in the SoCalGas vision, as announced earlier this year. As part of this vision to be the cleanest natural gas utility in North America, SoCalGas committed to replace 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Research shows that replacing about 20 percent of California's traditional natural gas supply with RNG would lower emissions equal to retrofitting every building in the state to run on electric only energy and at a fraction of the cost. Using RNG in buildings can be two to three times less expensive than any all-electric strategy and does not require families or businesses to purchase new appliances or take on costly construction projects. Learn more about SoCalGas's vision.

Customers can learn more about Common Area Measures and Energy Savings Assistance Programs by visiting socalgas.com/save-money-and-energy/assistance-programs.

About SoCalGas

Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers safe, affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians— about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants. 

SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest natural gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its natural gas system infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its natural gas system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook. 

About Retirement Housing Foundation

Headquartered in Long Beach, Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF) is one of this country's largest nonprofit organizations with a mission of providing various housing options for older adults, low-income families and persons with disabilities. RHF means home to more than 22,500 people in 197 housing communities in 29 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more information visit www.rhf.org and connect with RHF on Twitter (@RHFoundation) and Facebook.

About LADWP 

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is the nation's largest municipal utility, with a 7,880 megawatt electric capacity and serves an average of 438 million gallons of water per day to 4 million residents, its business and visitors in the City of Los Angeles. LADWP is aggressively working with its customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by expanding renewable energy, energy efficiency and other clean energy alternatives. LADWP puts customers first by offering numerous rebate and incentive programs to help them reduce their energy use while also saving on their bills. To learn more about LADWP's commercial rebate programs visit www.ladwp.com or call (800) DIAL-DWP. LADWP is also on Twitter (@LADWP) and Facebook.

SOURCE Southern California Gas Company