Rhode Island Department of Human Services
ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
NEWSLETTER
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The Rhode Island Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) helps keep individuals and families warm in the cold weather months through initiatives that assist families with energy costs. There are grants to help pay heating bills and resolve a home heating crisis caused by heat shut-off. The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) helps income-eligible households reduce heating bills by providing whole house energy efficiency services to households that qualify for our LIHEAP. Services include installing insulation and providing health and safety measures such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, draft reduction and proper ventilation. Both programs are overseen by the RI Department of Human Services (DHS) and administered by Community Action Program (CAP) agencies throughout the state. All can be found here:
https://www.ricommunityaction.org/member-services/
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Two news flyers (seen above) will soon help spread the message about our WAP program and new Smart Optimal Solutions (SOS) program within LIHEAP. As the DHS flyer explains, the new energy savings program gives participants the opportunity to:
- Learn about conservation activities to save money on home energy expenses
- Participate in one-on-one coaching to create a personalized household financial management plan
- Develop skills and ideas to help with employment goals
- Take part in interactive workshops that cover timely topics to put you on a positive financial path
- Reach program goals and receive incentives
Both flyers will soon be distributed to our CAP agency partners and all DHS offices.
DHS is also drafting policy regulations for LIHEAP. Once draft regulations are complete, they will be available for public comment. If you would like to be notified when the proposed regulations are available for review, please email
Tara.Borges@dhs.ri.gov
and ask to be added to the LIHEAP interested parties list. Once finalized, the LIHEAP regulations will be posted with all other DHS program regulations at
http://www.dhs.ri.gov/Regulations/index.php
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LIHEAP UPDATE
Helping Families Now &
In The Future
This heating season, almost 11,000 households have been assisted with a primary grant as of December 13, 2019. At this point last year, there were approximately 6,600 households assisted.
The about 64 percent increase may be attributable to a more efficient process, including starting intake earlier, and increasing marketing and reach using flyers, social media and the help of community partners and other state agencies.
The goal is to help all eligible Rhode Islanders who need this programs. LIHEAP grants provided assistance to households in all cities and towns. The CAP agencies do intensive outreach in summer months and continue to do outreach combined with intake during the heating season.
This season, a new LIHEAP program (see flyer above) called Smart Optimal Solutions (SOS) focuses on reducing the reliance of heating assistance by helping people with some of the barriers that cause them to need our program. CAP agency coaches work closely with LIHEAP customers to help them with energy savings, financial management and job seeking so they can get in a better financial place.
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program team
Contact your local CAP agencies for help
FRED SNEESBY
- Administrator
DEIRDRE WEEDON
- Chief Program Development , LIHEAP
HOLLY PAGLIA
- Junior Resource Specialist
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WEATHERIZATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM UPDATE
The Importance of Leveraged Funding
During 2020, the Weatherization Assistance Program plans to continue process improvements - an initiative that began in 2019. WAP plans to implement several key process improvements aimed at increasing both efficiency and effectiveness with the assistance of the Standardization Committee that includes representation from DHS, the CAP agencies, CLEAResult and National Grid.
Rhode Island is fortunate to have strong and vibrant relationships with its principal funding partners including the federal Department of Health and Human Services; the federal Department of Energy (DOE) and National Grid. Each funding partner is a building block of energy efficiency, and each one is essential to its structural integrity.
The Standard Work Specifications (SWS), developed by the DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), are a major component of the Guidelines for Home Energy Professionals project. It defines the minimum requirements to ensure that the work performed during home energy upgrades is effective, durable, and safe. DOE Project Officers have declared that the work performed by RI’s weatherization contractors is among the best in the country. The technical and programmatic oversight provided by DOE will continue to offer authentication to several process improvement initiatives currently underway at DHS.
Funding set aside from RI’s annual LIHEAP allocation ensures that eligible residents receive a whole house approach to weatherization, allowing the program to offer a more extensive menu of services to our most vulnerable residents - including families with children, the disabled, the elderly, households with a high energy burden, and households that are high energy users. Incorporating National Grid Demand Side Management (DSM) funds into the RI weatherization network brings another level of service.
RI WAP possesses a winning combination of resources and talent in our small state and is improving due in large part to the trust and support of our funding partners. The end result will benefit all aspects of the program. Most importantly, many will be warmer and safer because of WAP.
Weatherization Assistance Program team
FRED SNEESBY
- Administrator
JULIE CAPOBIANCO
- Chief Program Development of Low Income Programs
JOHN COSTELLO
- Senior Resource Specialist
RAMON LANTIGUA
- Senior Resource Specialist
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Want to join the DHS Weatherization team? We are looking for a Senior Resource Specialist. For more information, go to:
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TECHNICAL CORNER
Over the past year, WAP has been collaborating with its funding partners to streamline the delivery of energy efficiency services to our most vulnerable residents living in single family homes, manufactured or mobile homes, and small multifamily buildings. The major challenge in this effort has been how to best balance the need for high quality energy audits while also helping the greatest number of individuals and families.
In the RI weatherization program, professionally trained energy auditors at the local Community Action Agencies utilize the most advanced and available technologies to address customer energy use and improvements. By using an advanced computerized energy audit and advanced diagnostic equipment such as blower doors, manometers, and infrared cameras, energy auditors are able to determine the most cost-effective measures appropriate for each home. Once a customized work order is created, trained crews install the identified energy efficiency and health and safety measures. When the work is completed, a certified final inspector ensures all work was installed correctly and the home is safe for the occupants.
The delivery of weatherization services can be challenging at any level of service, and certain process improvements are already starting to pay off. We recently have introduced a new tool (the HEAT Mobile App); modified our existing data collection form (DCF); and centralized all RI WAP process forms. These new practices have already proven to be more efficient and will furthermore enable the creation of a more data driven approach to addressing issues in energy efficiency. These improvements will empower the program to quickly identify issues, allow for a correlational data driven approach to business all while ensuring that our existing processes are aligned with the local and national program objectives.
As an example, when the DCF and the HEAT Mobile App pilot test took place, energy auditors realized a greater than 30% reduction in work hours for collecting and entering the home energy audit data. In 2020, we plan to pilot the HEAT Mobile App as a stand-alone for collecting and entering data in our modeling software. It is estimated that energy auditors may be able to reduce the auditing process overall by 40%. As new challenges arise in statewide implementation, DHS and its partners are ready to train, be trained, and assist in whatever way necessary for the successful deployment of this important technology.
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A Providence, RI, couple were beyond excited to buy their first home to raise their daughter and newborn son in. The fall months were great and the sun warmed the house well, and then the winter came. The gas bill was $927.95 and the electric bill from all the space heaters was more than $370.
The Rodriguez' thought a neighbor was stealing the electricity, and then discovered their new home had an inefficient boiler and no insulation. Despite the heat being cranked up to 70, the thermometer read much lower. They moved their mattress into the kids’ smaller, bedroom and they all slept together on most days. On the colder days, they didn’t sleep there at all in fear that the children would get sick from the cold. “We couldn’t even enjoy our home,” the father said.
LIHEAP and WAP helped them pay their bills, insulate the house and get them a new boiler. Everyone is in their own bedrooms now, and the bills are manageable.
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PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS
DHS is a Department committed to process improvements, whether it be with system updates, operational changes or staff training. Our Home Energy Assistance teams recently reviewed how conflicts of interest may be presented in daily work situations before each signed a Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Certificate. Examples of conditions where such conflicts could exists include where a person:
- Receives personal enrichment or undue influence as a result of favorable or unfavorable work-related assessments
- Holds a secured financial or personal interest in an organization offering such goods and services
- Receives a direct or indirect financial benefit from a subgrantee offering such goods or services
- Has an immediate family member or blood relative who will receive a direct or indirect financial benefit from a subgrantee or contractor offering such goods or services
Social interactions that may appear as favoritism, definitions of gifts and/or gratuities and consequences for violating the requirements details in the certificate were also explained.
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Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions
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Change happens with ideas, and DHS is open to yours for future editions of this newsletter. Do you want more information on a specific topic within weatherization? Is there an event we should know about, and should participate in? Should we spotlight your agency?
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