Project BEST

Operation Fuel has initiated a small business program that provides energy grants and energy conservation/cost-saving training to Connecticut small businesses. This pilot program, “Project/BEST” (Business Energy Sustainability Team), has been funded by Dominion, one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, and PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group), parent company of PSEG Power LLC. Project/BEST offers electric bill credits to small businesses in five urban communities across the state: Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New London and New Haven. Project/BEST will primarily target women and minority-owned small businesses in distressed communities within the five cities. PB Prog. Deadlines

To view a copy of Project/BEST’s brochure, please click here.

To learn about Project/BEST energy grants and request an application, contact:

Bob Slate, Small Business Advocate
Project/BEST
860-243-2345 x 308
bob@operationfuel.org

More About the Announcement of Funding For

“I’d like to thank Operation Fuel
for implementing this important
and innovative program.”

- Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy,
February 15, 2011

Operation Fuel’s Small Business Program:

What’s News

Dominion To Offset Small Business Electric Bills
Small-business owners in the city are being invited to apply for grants of $1,000 to help offset electricity bills, thanks to a $1 million donation from Millstone Power Station owner Dominion. The grants are intended mainly to help small businesses owned by women and minorities, but any small-business owner is welcome to apply and no one who meets the other criteria will be turned away, said Bob Slate, small business advocate for the nonprofit group administering the project, Operation Fuel (The Day, February 21^nd, 2012).

Owners Of New Haven Small Businesses Urged To Apply For Energy Grants
Small-business owners in the city have until March 2 to apply for energy assistance grants from Operation Fuel’s Project/BEST, a new initiative that gives a one-time grant of $1,000 and training to help lower energy bills. Project/BEST is the first program of its kind in the nation, according to Operation Fuel, and is available to owners of small businesses in New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford, New London and Waterbury (New Haven Register, February 16, 2012).

Operation Fuel Offers $1,000 To New Haven Businesses
Bloomfield nonprofit Operation Fuel is expanding its electric bill credit program to New Haven, offering $1,000 in bill credits. Operation Fuel’s Project/BEST offers the $1,000 in credits as well as energy conservation and cost-saving training to eligible businesses in Hartford, Waterbury, Bridgeport, New London and now New Haven. Women-owned and minority-owned businesses are especially encouraged to apply (Hartford Business Journal, February 15, 2012).

Connecticut Kicks Off Lead By Example Energy Efficiency Program
Connecticut taxpayers will save $136,061 annually thanks to a lighting system upgrade at Eastern Connecticut State University (Eastern) in Willimantic and the replacement of rooftop HVAC units at Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institute in Enfield—the first projects to be funded by Governor Malloy’s Lead by Example (LBE) state building energy efficiency program. Administered jointly by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), Lead by Example offers funding and technical assistance to state agencies interested in lowering their energy consumption through energy efficiency upgrades (ConnecticutPlus, February 15, 2012).

Bank of America Adding Small Business Bankers
Bank of America said today it will boost the number of its small business bankers in three New England states, adding 50 positions including 14 in Connecticut. Connecticut’s largest bank said the hires are part of the company’s previously-announcd plan to hire 1,000 small business bankers across the nation by mid-2012 (Hartford Courant, 1/31/12).

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Electric Costs Hammer Small Business
by Harriet Jones, WNPR