Millions pour in for weatherizing homes, but funding drops for short-term heating

Sep 11 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dan Simmons The Wisconsin State Journal

In February, Sara Obern got a new furnace, a new fridge, new vents and new insulation pumped into the ceilings and attic of her century-old house on Madison's East Side. The savings were immediate -- her utility bill dropped $68 the first month -- and the improvements cost her nothing.

It's one old home among many in the region that have been retrofitted as the city and a Madison nonprofit, Project Home, rush to spend millions in federal stimulus funds to weatherize buildings.

But the success stories come with concerns that the boost in weatherization funding comes amid an expected drop in federal block grant funds that allow poor people to keep the heat and lights on as winter approaches.

"At a time they're drowning in weatherization and stimulus money, on the energy assistance side we're facing the likelihood we could be out of money by March," said Tim Bruer, executive director of Energy Services Inc., a Madison nonprofit that administers low-income energy assistance programs for 14 counties. Bruer also is a longtime Madison City Council member.

Wisconsin is expected to receive $70.5 million in federal block grant funding for its home energy assistance program.

That's down sharply from approximately $130 million doled out each of the previous two years, when federal lawmakers increased the grants substantially through supplemental funding requests. Such 11th-hour measures aren't likely to come through this year, Bruer said.

The projected funding drop comes at a time when demand for the grants is expected to jump again for the fourth consecutive year due to sustained unemployment and rising energy costs.

What it means, Bruer said, is "more people asking for pieces of the pie when the pie's getting smaller."

The average grant this year is projected to drop to $251 for federal heating assistance, down from $489 last year, he said. For public-funded help with lighting and electricity, the average award would dip to $104 from $121 last year.

Contrast those drops, he said, with the gully washer of money from Washington for weatherization, considered a long-term curb on energy costs.

The state has received $141.5 million in stimulus funds for its Home Weatherization Assistance Program on top of the $15 million the state got in regular funding for the program in 2009 and $6.7 million in 2010, according to the Wisconsin Office of Recovery and Reinvestment.

The money is granted primarily to providers, like Project Home, which do the actual work on the houses.

The city of Madison also got $2.3 million for weatherization projects for municipal buildings, businesses and homes and to train unemployed people in weatherizing houses. The city has spent about 20 percent of those funds so far, said Larry Studesville, energy grants administrator for the city. By November, the city plans to have two stimulus-funded assistance programs operating, Studesville said. One will provide grants to 42 low-income households to improve energy efficiency. A separate program will provide small energy rebates to up to 70 households, regardless of income, for making energy improvements.

As of July, Wisconsin providers had weatherized more than 5,700 homes with stimulus funds, plus nearly 7,800 other homes with annual program funding, according to the Department of Energy. It represents about 30 percent of the total homes the state planned to weatherize and qualifies the state for another $71 million in stimulus funds for weatherization.

Madison-based Project Home, which has been weatherizing homes for low-income people for nearly four decades, got $8.2 million in stimulus funds in addition to its base funding, third most of any agency in the state, according to the federal Department of Energy.

The nonprofit set a goal of weatherizing 1,342 low-income housing units with the stimulus money and is just shy of halfway there, completing 644 in Dane and Green counties so far, said Jan Reek, director of programs. She said they expect to finish all stimulus-funded projects by next July, the deadline.

The down economy and higher income limits -- the stimulus act raised the eligibility income ceiling to $23,435 annually for a one-person household and $45,067 for a family of four -- have boosted demand, she said.

Obern was between jobs and going back to school when she applied. She has lived in the house since buying it with her then-husband in 1983 and is now raising two kids on her own, she said. The house, in addition to being old, had a tree fall through its roof in July 2006.

A recent study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that weatherizing can save families an average of about $400 in energy costs during the first year.

"What this program does is to lower energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and create jobs locally," said Jen Stutsman, spokesperson for the Department of Energy. Project Home has added 20 staffers, down from the high level of 35 they originally thought may be needed to fill the extra orders.

John Schmitt, president and business manager for a statewide union of laborers, said that about 20 of its members recently went through training for weatherization skills. The stimulus overall hasn't created new jobs but has saved many from the unemployment ranks, he said.

Bruer agreed that weatherization is effective long term, but cautioned there needs to be more funding to address immediate energy costs.

"There's been a doubling of people coming in at a time when funding has been frozen," he said.