OKLAHOMA CITY —Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) is proud to donate 200,000 Energy Star-certified Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs to families in need, as part of its energy efficiency programs. With the help of Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, food pantry clients within OG&E’s service area will receive the energy-efficient bulbs throughout the year to help reduce energy use and costs, freeing up their limited resources for life’s other necessities.

“One of our company values is public service, which we take very seriously,” said OG&E Spokeswoman Kathleen O’Shea. “We’re passionate about helping our customers improve the energy efficiency of their homes and reduce their energy costs. We know that every little bit of savings helps families who in some cases are struggling to put food on the table and pay the bills.”

Volunteers from OG&E, CLEAResults and Regional Food Bank’s partner agencies packaged and prepared more than 1,100 cases of the bulbs for distribution at Regional Food Bank’s Volunteer Center Tuesday.
“This is really a tremendous opportunity for our partner agencies,” said Rodney Bivens, executive director of Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. “These light bulbs will go a long way in extending families’ ability to pay their utility bills, and just be able to get by. Our mission is ‘Fighting Hunger…Feeding Hope.’ This donation extends that into feeding hope. People will be able to stretch their dollars more,” he said.

Joanne Greeson with St. Vincent de Paul, a partner agency of the Regional Food Bank, said, “I told one of our clients that he was going to receive light bulbs and he was ecstatic. He said that he couldn’t afford to buy them. Our clients struggle; these lightbulbs will help them pay for medicine or other items they need.”

OG&E offers a variety of energy efficiency programs and discounts to help residential and business customers to stop wasting energy and start saving money. In the last several years, OG&E and its customers have helped reduce energy usage by more than 200 MW, with programs like the low-income weatherization, commercial lighting rebates and the SmartHours variable peak pricing program.

One in six Oklahomans has inconsistent access to food. Established in 1980, the Regional Food Bank is the largest private domestic hunger-relief organization in the state of Oklahoma. The Regional Food Bank reports that 72 percent of households have to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities.

A regulated utility serving more than 819,000 customers across a 30,000-square mile service area in Oklahoma and western Arkansas, OG&E is a subsidiary of OGE Energy Corp and is headquartered in Oklahoma City.

OG&E web site: www.oge.com
OG&E Twitter: @OGandE
OG&E Facebook: www.facebook.com/ogepower

About the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is the state’s largest private domestic hunger relief organization. The nonprofit provides enough food to feed more than 110,000 hungry Oklahomans each week through a network of nearly 1,200 schools and charitable feeding programs in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties. Since its inception in 1980, the Regional Food Bank has distributed nearly 600 million pounds of food to feed Oklahoma’s hungry. For more information, visit http://www.regionalfoodbank.org; find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/regionalfoodbank or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rfbo.