Portion of NES bills will go charity

Plan expected to raise almost $2 million per year

Email | Print By Nate Rau

Nashville Electric Service has instituted a new program where customers will have their bills rounded up to the nearest dollar with the difference donated to local charities.

NES sent a letter to customers last week explaining the new program, which is called Change for Charity.

The program works like this: If your monthly bill is $75.15, you will pay $76. The remaining $0.85 will be donated to Change for Charity. Customers will automatically be enrolled in Change for Charity, unless they opt out, said NES Corporate Communications Supervisor Tim Hill.

The average customer will pay about $6 a year, according to Hill. The most a person could pay is $11.88. With about 300,000 residential customers, the $6 average would produce total revenue of $1.8 million for Change for Charity.

“It’s a chance to take a very little contribution and have it do a lot of good for a lot of organizations,” Hill said.

Some customers are not thrilled with the format for the program. Phyllis Vaughn said customers should have the right to opt in to the program. As it stands now, customers are automatically included but can opt out online.

“You should be able to choose to contribute, not just do it automatically and NES asking you to opt out,” Vaughn said. “I’m perfectly capable of making the decision of which nonprofits I’d like to contribute to. I don’t need NES taking my money.”

Round-up programs like the one NES is launching are relatively common. Other cities run them and Middle Tennessee Electric, which provides power to Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Cannon counties, generates about $600,000 a year through its plan.

According to Hill, 80 percent of the money collected will be allocated to three organizations – the Metro Action Commission, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the Ladies of Charity. The other 20 percent will be awarded by a board, which has not yet been formed.

According to Vaughn, most people would not know how to opt our or take the time to do so.

“It’s going to be the very people they claim to want to help – the poor and the elderly – who will not know how to opt out,” said Vaughn, who works in the affordable housing industry. “I just find this ludicrous. NES needs to focus on electricity. They’ve got their hands full now.”

NES raised its rates about 20 percent earlier this year.

Information on the program can be found on this site.