Cash for Caulkers? Not Anymore.
"Not to tip our hand too much, but one of the things I would be surprised if we don't end up moving forward on is an aggressive agenda for energy efficiency and weatherization.”
- President Barack Obama, December 3, 2009.
Irony is the only way to describe the fact that just as the notion of “cash for caulkers” is gaining momentum in Washington -- championed by such boosters as Uber Venture Capitalist John Doerr, President Bill Clinton, and now President Barack Obama -- Massachusetts’ own existing successful “cash for caulkers” program is coming to a screeching halt. Ending just as the heating season begins and energy costs are rising.
For a number of years, residents of Massachusetts, specifically those homes that heat with gas could participate in a program that would pay up to 75% of the cost of weatherizing their home up to a maximum of $2000. In real terms, this meant that the average home would spend about $3000 on such steps as caulking, weather-stripping, insulation and the like and then receive a check back for $2000 from the gas company.
As our experience shows and energy experts will tell you, such a program can have dramatic results, slicing energy costs from anywhere to 10 to 40 percent per household. Savings that continue indefinitely, and lay the ground work for future energy-saving steps.
Yet, inexplicably this program ended December first, to be replaced with … no one really knows for sure. Despite a negotiation process between the state and the various utilities that is months if not years in the making, the only progress that has been made is to kill the existing program and to argue about what comes next. Our hope was at the very least the current program would be extended until the end of the year, but that has yet to happen.
The result for our company -- and the entire Massachusetts weatherization industry – is a deep freeze. No work is getting done, as customers are waiting for clarity on just how much, if any funds, they are likely to receive.
In our queue are some 30 homes waiting for our services, yet – rightfully – all of these customers are holding off until it is clear what the future rebate will be. The current situation is the worst case scenario for us. On the one hand, if there was a rebate program, this work would obviously get done quickly. Conversely, if there is no program -- and never will be -- some portion of this work would still get done, as the average homeowner recognizes its excellent return on investment and its short payback period.
But this current situation of confusion and paralysis means our work is stopped cold until the state and the utilities decide what the next step will be. Whether this process takes two weeks, two months or two years, until the rebates are sorted out all weatherization work, insulation, and the like is on hold.
So now we are wondering what to do. What do we say to these thirty customers who are ready to make their homes more energy efficient? What do we say to our nine employees that see the work drying up? What do we say to the future employees we could be hiring if there was just some clarity around the rebate programs?
What do we say? We don’t know, we are just waiting.
