The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized New Hampshire Electric Cooperative (NHEC) and a collaborative of other New Hampshire utilities with a 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for outstanding contributions to energy efficiency services and information.

NHEC is part of a collaborative of four New Hampshire electric utilities (NHEC, PSNH, Liberty Utilities, Unitil) that provides a wide range of energy efficiency programs for New Hampshire residents and businesses under the NHSaves brand name. For its part in providing energy efficiency programs and solutions to its members, NHEC was recognized at an awards ceremony held March 26 in Washington, DC.

NHEC and the collaborative were honored specifically for the delivery of the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program and the ENERGY STAR Homes program. Since its start in 2009, the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program has weatherized more than 2,000 New Hampshire homes and saved more than 42 million lifetime kilowatt-hours of electricity and 956,000 lifetime MMBTUs from oil, natural gas, kerosene, coal, and wood.

NHEC and the collaborative have also helped more than 6,000 new homes achieve the ENERGY STAR certification for energy efficiency since 2002. Based on US Census data, more than one in three new New Hampshire homes earn the ENERGY STAR label. Over the past 10 years, the New Hampshire ENERGY STAR Homes Program has been the driving force behind the ENERGY STAR Home market share growing from 2% in 2002-2003 to 36% of new homes built in 2011.

The ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Awards for Energy Efficiency Program Delivery are selected from the nearly 20,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program. ENERGY STAR was introduced by the US EPA in 1992 as a partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased energy efficiency. Over the last 20 years with help from ENERGY STAR, American families and businesses have saved more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

NHEC is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving 83,000 homes and businesses in New Hampshire.