Get the facts on Energy Poverty

• May 17, 2018
• Heat Smart

If you’ve never struggled to pay your heat or electricity bill, chances are the idea of energy poverty feels like an abstract. So what is it, exactly? Home energy and housing experts define energy poverty as when energy costs for heat and light are more than 6% of household income, others say more than 10% is the baseline.

Yet studies show much of the country’s poor are paying 25% of their income for heat and light – and in some extreme examples, closer to 75%, as reported by InsideEnergy.org. Data from the Department of Health and Human Services suggests people below 50 percent of the poverty level spend roughly 35 percent of their income on home energy bills. Studies have shown energy poverty follows overall income disparity: the poorest neighborhoods are the most affected throughout the country.

Energy poverty is another example of “the high cost of being poor.” Renters who pay for their own heat have no control to improve their situation if the landlord or owner is not motivated to improve efficiency. Renters are also more likely to live in draftier homes because they cannot pay for better insulation and newer windows themselves. In addition, rental units often have older, less efficient appliances.

The secondary effects of energy poverty are far-reaching. Next to domestic violence, not being able to afford utility bills is the number two reason for homelessness, reports InsideEnergy.org. Punitively high utility bills also force difficult choices such as:

• Going without heat
• No hot water
• Going without light after sundown
• Forgoing food or medicine to pay for heat
• Using improvised and unsafe energy alternatives. (For example, burning pressure-treated lumber scrapped from construction sites, releasing deadly arsenic fumes.)

There has been progress to relieve energy poverty but it’s slow going and not enough. The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) delivered over $3 billion of relief in 2015, but funds only reached 22% of families who need assistance.

Heat Smart aligns with organizations such as Energy Out West (EOW), the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition (NEUAC) and the National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) to raise awareness about the issue, advance weatherization and conservation projects, and work toward solutions. We’ll be at all their conferences this spring, and we won’t stop until every home is a warm, healthy and safe one. If you’re going, stop by and see how we can work together to make our shared goals a reality.

2018 Vet program: double the impact!

• February 1, 2018
• Heat Smart

Last winter we worked with Veterans Inc. and National Grid’s Customer Care Outreach Team to help returning veterans as they re-established households stateside. Together we were able get 778 Heat Smart kits to veterans to help them keep warm and save on their energy bills.

With such a wonderful result we couldn’t wait to do it again this winter. We teamed up with National Grid and the PUC of RI and doubled our impact: 1000 kits went to Veterans Inc. in Shrewsbury, MA, and just under 500 went to Operation Stand Down Rhode Island Veterans event. The program is called “Because they kept us safe, let’s keep them warm” and we’d also call it a giant success. Our thanks to all who worked so hard to make it happen.

This coming year, we’re focusing on developing even more beneficial partnerships with incredible organizations so we can help America’s heat insecure. In addition to utilities and veteran’s groups, we work with community action agencies, American Indian health and welfare groups, and government heat assistance programs. In addition, we also work directly with many kinds of nonprofits – in fact we’re already successfully working with Rebuilding Together.

Vincent J. Perrone, President and CEO of Veterans Inc. and Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret.) said it best: “working together like this means we can achieve so much more.”

We’d like to welcome you to this group of smart people making smart decisions. Come on in out of the cold and let us develop a custom partnership with you to meet your heat assistance goals and improve the well-being of your community. Cost-effective Heat Smart kits have helped countless agencies and programs like yours save money and reach more constituents.

If you would like more detail, please email or call our President, Donna Montaquila at 800-848-9665, x 250. She’d be happy to discuss the program with you.

Or catch up with us at any of the industry conferences this season: AESP in February in New Orleans, NCAF in March in Washington, D.C., or HPC in April in Philadelphia.

Dynamic partnerships make the world go ‘round

• December 19, 2017
• Heat Smart

Dance partner, study partner, business partner… a good partner can make or break the success of any venture. After all, where would Bill Hewlett be without Dave Packard? Ben Cohen without Jerry Greenfield? William Procter without James Gamble? You get the idea.

Without partnerships, Heat Smart couldn’t reach as many families in need of heat assistance. As a small initiative, the magic happens when we partner with people like you to distribute Heat Smart Kits to low-income families. So as we close out 2017, we salute each and every one of our partners. Here’s to you!

Looking forward to 2018, we want to do more. We want to blanket every family that needs help with the natural warmth of wool. We’re looking forward to helping more community action agencies reach more families. We’re looking forward to giving more weatherization programs another tool for their energy-efficiency programs. And we’re looking forward to giving more nonprofit organizations an innovative fundraising idea. The Heat Smart kit is all those things and more.

So what’s in store for us in 2018? We’ll continue reaching out to community programs, veterans, tribe health & welfare committees, utilities and others to tailor a Heat Smart program to meet their unique organizational needs. We’ll keep attending industry conferences and trade shows to see what’s new and how we can help.

Let’s start the New Year with a conversation about how we can work with you to achieve your heat assistance goals, cost-effectively. We’re already working in 39 states! Get your project to the top of our list by emailing or calling us. In the meantime, we wish you and yours the very warmest of holiday seasons.

Experience the warmth of Heat Smart

• December 12, 2017
• Heat Smart

The longest night of the year, Winter Solstice, is nearly here and some of us are celebrating the promise of spring and the sun’s long slow return. But for those of us working in heat assistance, the immediate concern is very different.

The National Community Action Foundation (NCAF) says the Administration has proposed deeper cuts than those accepted by Congress in recent years, and like most of Community Action Agencies’ human services programs, LIHEAP must fit in the limited and shrinking HHS budget.

That means we’re looking at increased need and decreased budget. We’re looking at families who can’t afford to turn the heat up, but lack alternatives to keep warm. And we’re looking for solutions. We know a true solution is multi-layered, including weatherization, efficient appliances, and behavior change. Heat Smart has the answer for one part: behavior change.

Heat Smart is a proven, innovative solution and a simple idea with a huge impact: give people the tools they need to stay warm and you’ll empower them to save energy. Heat Smart is cost-efficient, it’s easy, and it’s already helped over 500,000 families across the U.S. Here’s how:

• Instant Efficiency Program: Heat Smart kits can help you reach more constituents. Backed by Northwest Woolen Mills, we manage the logistics for you. It doesn’t get any easier, start to finish.
• Cost-efficiency: at just $12 per kit you can keep more families warm and that gives your budget a cozy feeling!
• Quality: Recipients tell us they love the blankets. Choose from pretty plaids or neutral solids.

So if your job description, like ours, includes heat assistance, you owe it to yourself to check us out. We’d love a chance to make your job easier, and keep families warmer.