Gainesville Regional Utilities is helping those who can’t afford to be energy efficient become so.
The Low-Income Energy Efficiency Program, LEEP, is a free program for low-income households to replace items such as water heaters and air conditioners to save money and energy.
Vanessa Aragon, a residential efficiency program coordinator with the company, said, on average, $3,000 is given for upgrades per household.
Items such as water heaters, A/C systems, insulation, programmable thermostats and weather stripping can all be replaced under this program. Even light bulbs, she said.
Customers apply for the program and must meet requirements such as owning a home and ranking below 80 percent of the median family income, based on current Housing and Urban Development guidelines. For Gainesville, a four-person household income would be $49,050.
The program also applies to mobile homes and houses with mortgages.
It was introduced in 2006 after the City Commission asked the company to create initiatives to make Gainesville more energy efficient.
The company realized that not all households were able to afford such items, even with GRU’s rebate system.
“Unfortunately, low-income customers did not have the funds or the means to make those improvements to reduce energy,” Aragon said.
Since 2006, almost 500 homes have been upgraded.
“By offering these programs, making those improvements for them, we were able to save them energy on their end and ours, and then also save them money,” she said.
Of those houses, an average 13 percent is saved on their monthly bill.
According to the City of Gainesville website, $528,500 was allotted to the program from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. One-fourth of the cost for each home improvement is covered by that, and the rest is paid for by GRU.
Aragon said there is enough funding for 336 households this year and 276 spots are still available.
“Customers are always very excited and welcoming,” she said. “It’s a good and positive outcome.”
