The document describes the How$martKY project, which aims to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs for low-income homeowners in Kentucky. It does this through a pilot program that provides upfront funding for home energy upgrades, which homeowners pay back through savings on their utility bills. The summary provides details on project goals, expansion plans, needed resources, and timeline of activities. It also explains how the project could help drive economic transition in Central Appalachia through both immediate financial benefits for families and long-term job creation in the clean energy sector.

1. Startup Appalachia
Accelerating the Entrepreneurial Economies in Appalachia
Project Narrative
Startup Appalachia aims to (1) identify promising efforts that could produce larger results for the
economic transition of Central Appalachia, (2) encourage direct organizing by foundations to fund
around the most promising work in the region, (3) leverage additional resources to scale projects,
and (4) offer funders insight on how to capitalize on the investments they have made to date.
Section I: Project Identification
Project Title:How$martKY
Identify the name, contact number and email address of the following Startup Actors:
 Supportive Coach: Mary Hunt-Lieving
 Nominator: Sandra Mikush
 Project Leader: Justin Maxson
Section II: To be completed by the Nominator
1. Please provide a short summary of your motivations for funding this project and what you hope to
gain out of participating in Startup Appalachia.
How$mart is an innovative solution to helping low-to-moderate-income people, including renters, to
get access to energy efficiency upgrades to save on utility bills. The Appalachia Funders Network and
the Babcock Foundation see the potential of energy efficiency/alternative energy as a growth sector
for the region. Taken to scale, How$mart will provide job opportunities for skilled workers providing
energy efficiency services. By working with rural electric coops, MACED is creating a sustainable
business model for reducing energy use to save consumers money and provide a healthier
environment. If successful, this model could be replicated throughout the region. This supports the
Babcock Foundation’s goals of facilitating an economic transition in Appalachian Kentucky that
helps the region move to a sustainable economy that offers economic opportunity and a healthy
environment for all its citizens.
Section III: To be completed by the Project Leader
1. Clarify the short-term and long-term results of the project.
In the next two-to-three years, the results of the How$martKY pilot will mostly revolve around the
energy and financial savings that residential customers of the co-ops will experience. These results
include the following:
49 jobs created or retained.
300-400 retrofits completed.
7,200 MMBtUs of energy saved by How$mart residential clients.
$308,400 saved by How$mart clients as a result of retrofits to their homes.
$4,039,800 invested in retrofits to residencies in eastern Kentucky.
The long term results of the pilot are focused more on the utilities, both the East Kentucky Power
Cooperative members and the investor-owned utilities. Energy efficiency represents the most direct
and achievable way of reducing emissions from coal-fired power plants, addressing the coming

2. Startup Appalachia
Accelerating the Entrepreneurial Economies in Appalachia
Project Narrative
challenges associated with taking old coal-fired plants offline, and protecting customers (especially
low-income customers) from steadily increasing utility rates. A recent study by American Council for
an Energy Efficient Economy found that implementing existing energy efficiency measures across
the board would reduce consumption by 20 percent – a huge amount. Thus, the long term results of
the How$martKY pilot would be:
Shifting the utilities’ revenue models to including and encourage energy saved .
Having EKPC or investor owned utilities adopt the How$mart program or model as part of
their energy or customer services provisions.
Proving the viability of an energy efficiency retrofit market for contractors. This would be
one component of a robust clean energy economic sector, a sector that would create
meaningful employment opportunities in eastern Kentucky.
A growing number of low-income families whose resiliency in the face of rising utility rates
is greatly increased.
2. Please provide a detailed description of howthis project couldbe expanded.
The current iteration of How$mart involves MACED and four EKPC member co-ops. This phase
of the pilot ends in December 2012. As the first phase of the project winds down, we are in the
process of evaluating, tweaking the program design with our co-op partners, recruiting new co-op
partners to the second phase of the pilot, and preparing to file a new rider with the Kentucky Public
Service Commission. To expand the project, we hope to increase the number of co-op participants
from the current four to a minimum of eight. Ultimately for this portion of the project, we would
like to have 10 co-ops participating.
If we have eight co-op partners, we anticipate increasing the number of completed annual retrofits
from 100 to 320. If we had 10 partners, this could go from 100 to 400.
This expansion would allow the program to operate at a scale that would entice adoption by other
utilities, specifically the investor-owned utilities. If How$mart is to have a real chance to go to a
meaningful scale, it (or a model very similar to it) will have to expand to the investor-owned utilities.
Because financing the retrofits is essential to this pilot, MACED will have to raise additional capital
to fund the expanded retrofits. An expanded pilot will also require additional funding for operations.
3. What resources are needed to assist in this expansion?
We currently estimate needing an additional$200,000 a year in new operating funds to support the
expansion. This additional funding would help pay for expanded staffing, communications, and
marketing of the program.
In order to fund the increased number of retrofits, we anticipate needing an estimated $750,000 in
new capital.
These numbers are still tenuous as we are still planning and recruiting for the second phase of the
pilot. These numbers will become firmer by the end of October. One issue we are exploring with the
co-ops is the financial contributions they are willing to make to the expansion and to this model of
energy efficiency financing and provision. In the long run, we know that the co-ops will have to
become more financially invested for this program to achieve true success and scale.There is a
current possibility that the co-ops can access a new USDA rural utility service capital source as early

3. Startup Appalachia
Accelerating the Entrepreneurial Economies in Appalachia
Project Narrative
as spring 2013. The capital source has challenges to it that may make it less likely the co-ops will be
willing to bring it to the table.
4. Please list the specific activities that will lead to this expansion. (Provide a timeline for these
activities.)
The following are the specific activities we will pursue to expand the program.
(September)Complete the design of the expanded service delivery model with the co-ops’
assistance—We are currently refining the delivery model in partnerships with the co-ops to
address risk concerns and define partner roles.
(October)Finalize financial pro-formas—Completing the design is allowing us to project
revenue and costs during the next two years.
(November)Recruit new co-ops—Currently working to recruit four-to-six new partners in
addition to the four currently in the pilot.
(December)Develop and submit a new rider to the PSC—The next phase will require
approval from the Kentucky public service commission based on a written application
prepared by MACED and filed by the co-ops.
(February)Implement staffing plan—We will finalize our staffing and deployment plan and
seek to hire needed new staff.
(May)Start expanded roll-out—We aim to launch the expanded How$mart in the late spring
of 2013.
Section IV: To be completed by the Nominator and Project Leader
1. How does this project contribute to the economic transition of Central Appalachia?
The primary contributions of the How$martKY project to an economic transition in Central
Appalachia are two –fold. In the short-term, this project has the real potential to increase the
financial security of people in the region, and especially low-income families. These families often live
in subpar housing structures that were not designed to be energy efficient. As such, they dedicate a
large portion of their already limited incomes to their utility bills. How$mart provides them a way to
access the energy efficiency retrofits that will save them money and make their homes more resilient
to future rate increases by the utilities that serve them.
In the long-term, How$martKY, if adopted at scale, would provide utilities with a way to manage
peak load demand and the coming stress of continuing to provide energy to customers while also
retiring old, coal-fired plants that are far beyond their intended life-span. If adopted at scale, the
contractor market for providing energy efficiency retrofits also represents a crucial part of a clean
energy economy, one with the potential for a great deal of meaningful, local jobs.
2. Provide a 1-paragraph summary of your project to share on the Appalachia Funders Network
website.
How$martKY is a pilot program designed to address the primary barrier to investment in energy
efficiency retrofits by low-to-moderate-income homeowners: the necessity for upfront funding to pay
for improvements. Also known as a tariff on-bill program, the idea is simple and powerful — the
utility makes energy improvements in a property as part of its utility service. The customer pays back
the cost of the improvement through the savings on their bills.
Section V: Conditions for Participation

4. Startup Appalachia
Accelerating the Entrepreneurial Economies in Appalachia
Project Narrative
Due to the educational nature of this initiative, your participation in Startup Appalachia confirms
your willingness topublically share and encourage the use of the ideas and strategies behind your
organization’s project.