State, local agenices offer help

By Sam Harvey
Staff Reporter

Representatives from various state and local agencies and charitable organizations, and utility company personnel, congregated at Delaware Tech in Georgetown on March 2, joining forces to shed the light on as many energy-related conservation, and assistance, programs as they could cram into one place and one time.

Turnout at the informational event was light — a Catholic Charities representative later said she’d seen less than two dozen people all day. But with electric rates set to rise nearly 60 percent for residential customers on May 1, Sussex County residents may soon develop more of an interest in what the state and others are offering.

For those who couldn’t attend, here’s the rundown:

Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) staff noted two Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP) components, administered through local non-profits, especially for low-income families: (1) weatherization assistance, through First State Community Action, and (2) winter fuel and summer cooling assistance, through Catholic Charities.

Both are available to households earning up to 200 percent of federal poverty. One Catholic Charities worker protested Delaware’s higher threshold (eligibility reached to 150 percent of federal poverty in neighboring states, she said), but at any rate, the 200 percent threshold runs thusly:

• One-person households, up to $19,140

• Two people, up to $25,660

• Three, up to $32,180

• Four, up to $38,700, and so on in stepwise fashion

DEAP typically accepts applications for heating assistance through March 31, so that season’s winding down. Applications for help with a portion of the summer cooling bills are accepted June 1 through Aug. 31.

Pretty self-explanatory — for more information, contact Catholic Charities at (302) 856-6310.

The weatherization program is more complex. However, DHSS’s Ken Davis arranged for some of the First State Community Action contractors to showcase some tangible examples.

Jeff Blevins (J.R. Blevins Inc.) extolled the virtues of cellulose insulation (made primarily from recycled newspaper), using a cut-away subflooring mock-up as a prop. Cellulose is a better insulator (higher “R value”) than fiberglass, he said, but most builders use fiberglass in new construction.

Blevins also explained the superiority of at least double-paned windows, as one of his colleagues, Chris Johnson, demonstrated how one would go about installing such a window.

A few paces away, Leroy Snead (Snead Heating and Air) reminded a couple of event participants how important it was to change air filters on a regular basis. Failure to do so reduces energy efficiency but could also crack a heat exchanger, Snead said.

He described some of the newer technologies associated with gas and oil furnaces, such as secondary heat exchangers which make it possible to keep flue gas at much lower temperatures.

“Or, if you’re a cold-natured person, don’t need a lot of heat, maybe a heat pump is going to be enough for you,” he added.

Regarding water heaters, he advised people who keep the hot water temperature turned up to 140 degrees to maybe back it down a little. According to Snead, most people wind up diluting their hot water with cold anyway.

He recommended people wrap their water heater with an insulating blanket, or go with a double- or triple-insulated unit when they are ready to purchase a new one.

The weatherization program involves an initial energy audit and analysis at the participants’ homes, after which the contractors come in and do their thing. The program runs year-round.

For more information, contact First State Community Action at (302) 856-7726.

Similarly, other charitables, such as Delaware Rural Ministries and the Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D), offered emergency help with housing rehabilitation (among other things).

RC&D’s Christine Stillson offered her concerns regarding the possibility that the pending electricity rate hikes might prove the straw that broke the camel’s back. She suspects middle-income families will be able to handle the increases, although they might have to make a few changes in their spending habits — but others might not fare as well.

“Are we turning out the lights on low-income America?” she said. “The 30 families we served last year are already stretching their dollar to the limits. Are we to make them choose between food, medicine and electricity?”

Delmarva Power’s Michael Hoy, in attendance with colleagues and representatives from both the Delaware Electric Cooperative and Chesapeake Utilities, noted his company’s proposal to redistribute some of the burden to those more capable of shouldering it.

As Hoy noted, Delmarva Power had suggested the state adopt a “Universal Service Fund” to protect low-income Delawareans. This would be like a DEAP assistance program in reverse – eligible participants would pay up to, and no more than, some maximum percentage of their income (Delmarva Power recommended 6 percent) toward their energy bills.

The company has offered to contribute $500,000 in stop-gap funding until the state can install such a program.

“We’re trying to work with them (the social agencies), to lessen the impact of the rate increase on individual customers,” Hoy said.

Delmarva Power has also offered a more palatable phase-in of the pending rate increases, although that would ultimately cost customers a little more than they would with one big hike (the deferral would basically amount to a low-interest loan).

The company has also offered the state several suggestions regarding a new energy-efficiency program (low-interest loans for efficiency improvements, programmable thermostats and an online energy analysis tool).

Several electric companies and the state are already working together on the Consumer Energy Education Group, in an effort to help people with energy conservation and their managing energy costs. To learn more, visit www.manageenergycosts.com on the Internet.