About Us

Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to help people conserve energy and to promote a sustainable and socially equitable energy future for all. ECA leads the design and implementation of high-quality energy conservation, education, and home repair initiatives to eliminate energy burden and stabilize low-income families in their homes and communities.

With a history of innovation dating back to our holistic approach to direct community service with the creation of the Neighborhood Energy Centers, ECA continues to take on experimental pilot programs and find new ways to create climate resilience.

Our History

In 1983, as residential utility terminations in Philadelphia increased from 3,000 to 30,000 in just one year, community activists, advocates, and faith leaders around the city called for a solution. The City of Philadelphia responded with the founding of ECA the following year. ECA started working out of the Friends Center at 1501 Cherry Street with the goal of improving access to energy assistance and conservation services for income eligible communities.

In 1985, the network of Neighborhood Energy Centers came to fruition to deliver trusted education and streamline the utility bill assistance application processes. Since then, the network has grown to 16 organizations preventing 900 utility terminations annually and helping another 5,000 households access utility bill assistance. The NECs are also hubs for community access to budget counseling and home energy education, including weatherization services.

In 1993, ECA took over operation of the City of Philadelphia’s only Heater Hotline, providing crisis support for income eligible residents facing heating system breakage during winter. We coordinate free heater repair or replacement to keep our vulnerable residents safe and warm, and have expanded into providing preventative maintenance during the off season.

In 2008, the idea for a training center to educate the next generation of clean energy workers was born. To house this endeavor, we purchased our West Kensington facility and retrofitted this 58,000 square foot former-factory-turned-warehouse into a LEED Gold Certified building. We model energy saving and environmental protection with a 3,000-gallon storm water management system that provides non-potable water for toilets and utility purposes and an HVAC system that includes thermal solar hot water, three heat pumps, and a reflective, non-heat-absorbing, elastomeric coating on the roof.

2009 brought the first class of trainees to our Knight Green Careers Training Center and since then, we’ve graduated over 5,000 entry level students, returning citizens, and building contractors with professional training that leads to stackable, portable, national credentials. Many have gone on to have fulfilling careers in the growing clean energy industry making family-sustaining wages.

In 2017, ECA expanded our operations into New Castle County, Delaware with the funding of a federal Weatherization Authorization Program (WAP) contract. As of 2021, our Delaware team has been administering WAP and Pre-WAP home stabilization throughout the whole state. Heating system support and utility bill assistance became part of our operations in 2023.

In recent years, our Philadelphia team has piloted an emergency hot water heater replacement program to supplement our existing Heater Hotline and a cooling crisis program in 2023, enabling us to distribute and install 876 A/C units and fans. Our drive for innovation will continue as we find new ways to make our community’s homes healthy and climate resilient.

Our Impact

Each year, ECA’s work keeps thousands warm during the winter, helps thousands more avoid utility termination, opens careers in clean energy to students and returning citizens, and dramatically reduces energy use for hundreds of homes. Our work alleviates poverty, reduces carbon emissions, adds value to the assets of low-income households, tackles the skills gap and diversity issues in the trades, and advances the clean energy economy.