Power Up FAQs

The program mission is to accumulate funds and reinvest the money in our communities by providing bill-pay assistance to qualified GVEC members and community grants to local nonprofit groups and civic organizations for community development and improvement projects.

You do not need to do anything if you would like to participate. If you choose to opt-out of the Program at any time, use this opt-out form, send an email to info@gvec.org, call us at 800.223.4832 or visit any GVEC office.

The electric bills of GVEC members are rounded up to the nearest dollar each month, and the difference in change is donated to the Power Up Community Fund. For example, if a bill is $114.76, it will be rounded up to $115.00. The difference between the actual bill and the rounded up amount—24 cents—will be donated to Power Up. The amount donated could be as little as a penny, but not more than 99 cents. The donation will appear as a line item on the GVEC member’s electric bill.

About 15 percent of the funds are used for community assistance, distributed each month through area Council of Government offices to help low-income and elderly GVEC members pay their electric bills. Members must qualify for bill-pay assistance through guidelines set by GVEC and the COG offices. Approximately 85% of Power Up funds are distributed through community grants to nonprofit groups and civic organizations involved in community development and improvement projects in the GVEC service area with a focus on education, youth programs, healthcare, community development, civic and community outreach, and public safety/service. Applications for these grants are evaluated by a Grants Review Committee representing GVEC‘s service areas. There are two funding cycles a year; application deadlines are February 15 for the April distribution and August 15 for the October distribution. The people, organizations and locations of the community projects do not have to be served by GVEC to be eligible, but the projects must lie within the outer geographical boundary lines of the GVEC service area or have overlapping service areas.

GVEC members must contact a Council of Government office to apply.

An application, along with eligibility information, can be filled out here.

You can find a list of awards here, or read about some of the community projects in the Power Up section of our Blog.