Demand heats up for weatherization, energy bill help

With cooler weather and a continued soft economy, phones are ringing more than usual at the Energy Resource Center, a 30-year-old nonprofit that helps low-income residents reduce their energy bills.

The center is fielding about 15 applications a day for free weatherization, compared with 15 a week in previous years, said executive director Howard O. Brooks.

The waiting list to have an energy audit and recommended work done is three to six months, depending on the type of residence and location, he said.

But $3.6 million in federal stimulus funding, funneled through the Governor’s Energy Office, means most who qualify for the services, which include insulation and furnace repairs and replacement, will receive assistance.

Brooks said the organization expects to help about 1,000 homeowners, apartment dwellers and mobile home residents in El Paso, Teller, Elbert, Douglas and Fremont counties this year, up from 355  last year.

The organization serves people whose annual household income is up to 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold, which is about $44,100 for a family of four.

“We’ve come across some dangerous situations — people heating their home with their ovens, or bringing propane gas grills indoors for heat, which is very unsafe,” Brooks said. “I like to say we keep people warm and safe.”

Under the weatherization program, crews blow fireproofed recycled newspaper into wall cavities and attics of homes that are inadequately insulated, and fix furnaces and refrigerators or replace them.

The work reduces energy bills by about half, Brooks said.

Requests to help pay home heating bills also are expected to skyrocket this winter. Applications opened Nov. 1 for the federally funded and county-administered Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LEAP. Officials are projecting a 15 percent increase in demand in Colorado over last winter. Nearly 105,740 households, about 13,140 in El Paso County, received funds to partially cover their heating costs.

Energy Outreach Colorado, a private nonprofit organization, also provides statewide emergency assistance to prevent utility service from being cut off, funds to restore service and grants to households for bulk fuel. More families already are requesting funds to pay heating bills, said Jennifer Gremmert, deputy director. The agency assists about 21,000 households each year.

“We’re concerned, not knowing whether it’s going to be colder or not, and with the economic uncertainty, how families are going to cope with their energy bills this winter,” she said.