Press Releases
03/19/2024
Avangrid Receives Eddy Award for Student Loan Debt Repayment Program
Avangrid Receives Eddy Award for Student Loan Debt Repayment Program
Program saved Avangrid employees more than $1.5 million in 2023
ORANGE, Conn. — March 19, 2024 — Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and a member of the Iberdrola Group, announced today that it earned an Eddy Award from Pension & Investments for the company’s groundbreaking Student Loan Debt Repayment Program, which saved Avangrid employees more than $1.5 million last year in principal and estimated interest.
“Student loan debt surpasses all other categories of consumer debt, besides mortgages, in the United States,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO. “This fact is not only staggering, its sobering. We are very proud to have diverse and modern benefits that support our employees’ mental, physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing. To receive an Eddy Award for our Student Loan Debt Repayment Program confirms our belief that our benefits are setting a new standard for employee programs and care.”
Pension & Investment’s annual Eddy Awards recognizes best practices in offering investment and financial education to defined contribution plan participants. This year’s awards included five categories: special projects, financial wellness, ongoing investment education, conversions/403(b) consolidations and pre-retirement preparation. Avangrid earned second place in the Financial Wellness category, and this is Avangrid’s third Eddy award in four years.
Avangrid was one of the first energy companies in the United States to have a student loan debt repayment program. The program is available to non-union employees and offers participants a $250 monthly payment, up to a lifetime maximum of $9,000, paid directly to their eligible student loan provider(s). To date, more than 600 Avangrid employees have enrolled.
“A program like this tells me that Avangrid cares about its employees by helping them focus on total wellbeing, including financial wellness,” said Jordan Noll-Lamantia, manager of Talent Acquisition at Avangrid and a participant in Avangrid’s Student Loan Debt Repayment Program. “Taking advantage of this benefit is allowing me to pay down my student loans quicker than I originally planned. This means more freedom to do the things I love, such as traveling.”
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $44 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
About Iberdrola: Iberdrola is one of the world's biggest energy companies and a leader in renewables, spearheading the energy transition to a low carbon economy. The group supplies energy to almost 100 million people in dozens of countries. With a focus on renewable energy, smart networks and smart solutions for customers, Iberdrola’s main markets include Europe (Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Greece), the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The company is also present in growth markets such as Japan, Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden and Poland, among others.
With a workforce of nearly 40,000 and assets in excess of €141.7 billion, across the world, Iberdrola helps to support 400,000 jobs across its supply chain, with annual procurement of €12.2 billion. A benchmark in the fight against climate change, Iberdrola has invested more than €130 billion over the past two decades to help build a sustainable energy model, based on sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
