Welcome to DeSoto, Georgia
Upgrading to efficient, electric appliances doesn’t just benefit your home, it improves your life. Just ask these residents of DeSoto, Georgia, a historic, tight-knit rural community of roughly 114 households, located three hours south of Atlanta.
All photography and video by Kamryn Harris.
Rewiring America senior advisor Stacey Abrams recommended DeSoto to be the site of Rewiring America’s largest demonstration project: Vitalizing DeSoto. The program’s goal was to enhance residents’ comfort and reduce energy usage by installing electric-powered stoves, hot water heaters, and HVAC systems, one home at a time. "Doing better doesn't always require sacrifice. With this program, we were able to make sure everyone got what they needed," said Abrams of the project.
Meet the residents of DeSoto, Georgia
DeSoto residents share why their small but mighty Southern town is so special.
What people are saying
DeSoto residents share how electrifying their appliances changed their lives for the better.
Rewiring America worked with DeSoto Mayor James D. Cutts and Rosemery Jones to encourage households to sign up for a new initiative launched in fall 2023: Vitalizing DeSoto. The program was open to anyone living in DeSoto, and offered residents a free energy audit, as well as a free electric appliance — either an electric induction stove, a heat pump, or a heat pump water heater. The program was designed to use philanthropic funds to offer the community some of the benefits of new, efficient electric appliances, with the goal of bringing down their utility bills, increasing indoor air quality, and helping with extreme heat.
“This has been a blessing.”
Frances Morris moved to DeSoto more than a decade ago to the home she had planned to retire in with her late husband. She was worried about handling a recent round of home maintenance needs alone — and was relieved to learn about the Vitalizing DeSoto program.
“You need that air. I know I do — I can’t stand to be hot.”
— Stanley Billings
When Stanley Billings’ father built his home decades ago, his family didn’t need central air. But with just a window unit, the lifelong DeSoto resident had a hard time keeping himself and his family cool as the summers kept getting hotter. Now, with a new heat pump HVAC system, Billings says he looks forward to an improved quality of life for years to come, along with a reduction in his utility bills.
Rewiring America (in combination with Georgia Power’s energy efficiency programs’ funding) reached out to homeowners with the help of trusted local residents. Households that opted in got fully subsidized upgrades and help coordinating contractors to carry out the work.
“This program, it’s able to help some of the people that cannot go and buy some of this stuff for themselves … and it helps them to feel good about their homes.”
— DeSoto Mayor James D. Cutts
Mayor Cutts was born five miles down the road from DeSoto, and visited the town often as a young man. Cutts’ uncle, who lived in town, planted the seeds early for his eventual decision to run for office. “He said, ‘somebody needs to do something for DeSoto … that might be a job for you,’” remembers Cutts, whose philosophy as mayor for nearly a decade has been to lead by example — whether it’s driving the school bus, rolling up his sleeves to fix residents’ broken water pipes or having a heat pump installed in his 114-year-old home. “I don’t ask anybody to do anything that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself,” he said.
“For a country boy like me, there’s no place like home.”
— Trimel Holloway
DeSoto native Trimel Holloway is a musician whose styles range from country to disco to gospel. And he said DeSoto — where his family’s roots as farmers run deep — inspired him to explore farming as well. “Growing up here in the South, playing in the dirt, understanding where my family’s from and how important food is, I found a passion for farming,” he said. Holloway opted to have a heat pump water heater added to his home as part of the Vitalizing DeSoto program. He describes it as a tremendous benefit to his home, “because it’s less energy to heat up the water, [which] means less of an energy bill coming in on that monthly basis.”
“It’s been wonderful.”
— Andrea Pace