Sara Alvarado can easily feel the stress of her reports.
“My bills were $160 a month and I said, This is due to the fact that I have a stable income," he says.
But these days, with the help of his hand, he can breathe a charge of energy.
"It helped a lot," she said.
Not far from his home in Denver is a 10-acre site with 5,000 solar panels. All soaking up the Colorado sun while keeping costs down.
© Provided by CBS Denver Solar panels installed at a Denver community solar farm are helping lower energy costs for some low-income residents. SCS:"This is a 2 megawatt community solar park registered for eligible income customers," said Tyler Smith of Xcel Energy.
Excel Energy built the massive Arapahoe Community Solar Park through a public-private partnership with the city of Denver and nonprofit Colorado Energy.
"We're standing on a former coal site and now providing affordable renewable energy to low-income customers," Smith told CBS News Colorado.
The goal is not only to help low-income families with higher utility bills, but also to improve access to more sustainable resources.
"We're particularly interested in that kind of area," said Will Aston of the Denver Agency for Human Rights.
However, the benefits go beyond the availability of renewable energy sources and cost savings. When families can afford to pay their bills, it often means they can make healthier choices.
"When households can't pay their energy bills, they start making very risky decisions," said Kim Shields of Energy Network Colorado. “Things like using unsafe appliances to heat your home or withholding food or medicine from turning on the lights. Being able to pass these savings on to some of our most vulnerable neighbors has an impact, especially as winter approaches."
© CBS Denver resident Sara Alvarado breathed a sigh of relief after a new community solar garden helped lower her energy bills. SCS:Hundreds of homes next to a sunny public park in the southwest suburbs of Denver. In some cases, bills are cut in half, and for residents like Alvarado, that makes a big difference.
"They care about our community," he said of the program. "They think about our people."
The Arapaho Community Solar Park is just the beginning. Excel Energy plans to build more in the state to help support more Coloradoans.
