Source: Staten Island Live

Excerpt:

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Last winter, Flore Baptiste recalled paying more than $300 for her electricity bill in her Arden Heights home, the first she ever owned. Her bill was typically around $125 a month, but the up-and-down see-saw of utility prices was leaving her concerned.

A single mother of three, she said she wanted to learn more about the city’s push for solar energy — an alternative source of power that is becoming cheaper to install for homeowners. She started at a resource fair at Staten Island Borough Hall.

Baptiste, the Staten Island community coordinator for the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, said she wanted to learn more about the available services. She soon became among the first clients of a new city initiative centered on helping residents to install energy-efficient upgrades.

Months later, and with her solar panels installed, she has recently been paying around $20 monthly for her electricity, according to records observed by the Advance/SILive.com, leading to an expected thousands of dollars in savings annually.

Read more: Staten Island woman lowered energy bills after installing solar panels. She shares her journey.