Clark Public Utilities wants to help make this the last winter you struggle to keep the chill out of your home.
For a limited time, we’ve doubled the rebates for insulation and home window upgrades for customers with electrically heated homes. Act quickly to be sure you can secure yours.
“Many of us at the utility are homeowners ourselves, so we know firsthand how costly home improvement projects can be,” said Clark Public Utilities Energy Services Supervisor DuWayne Dunham. “We doubled our insulation and window incentives to make home comfort and energy efficiency more widely available to everyone.”
Under the new incentive structure, insulation rebates have doubled to 40 cents, 50 cents and $1.20 per square foot on attic, floor and wall insulation, respectively. Window replacements also doubled to $6 per square foot for double-pane windows and $8 per square foot for triple-pane windows. Incentives for duct sealing, and home envelope sealing have also increased. Door replacement rebates are still available but are unchanged.
A typical household spends about half its utilities budget on heating and cooling; but residents of homes built before 1990, when the state began increasing efficiency standards in the residential building code, may spend even more. Unless they’ve been remodeled, older homes have less (sometimes significantly less) insulation and many more air leaks than their modern counterparts. Thus people living in older homes stand to benefit most from weatherization measures.
“Older homes can see significant improvements in terms of savings and personal comfort after completing a few weatherization projects,” Dunham said. “Of all of them, adding insulation is one of the most cost-effective and long-lasting home improvements a person can make.”
To put the new insulation incentive into perspective, customers can now expect around 10 – 20 percent of their projects costs to be covered, compared to 10 percent or less with the original incentives. So, if an attic job costs $2,000, homeowners may now receive about a $400 incentive.
Homeowners must meet some qualifications to be eligible. The pre-existing insulation levels and window type may effect a customer’s ability to qualify. In addition to the home being electrically heated, all the work must be performed by a contractor participating in the utility’s Contractor Network.
The network isn’t an endorsement, warrantee or guarantee of any kind for any company. Instead, it’s a list of contractors the utility verifies to be well-versed in the latest utility rebates and incentive programs; maintain all necessary licenses, bonds, insurance and all necessary professional certifications; and is ensured to consistently meet the utility’s high customer-service standards. When the time comes to submit incentive paperwork, the contractor will complete the forms and all the customer has to do is sign on the bottom line.
Visit our website, clarkpublicutilites.com to find out more about all of our incentive programs, the contractor network, and even use an energy calculator to see how much you may save.
Also, if you want to learn additional ways to make your home feel less drafty and use less electricity, the Clark Public Utilities Energy Counselor of the Day may be able to help. Call them at 360-992-3355 during business hours Monday through Friday. They can tell you about all utility incentives and suggest potential cost-effective solutions that will make your home more comfortable and affordable year round.
Energy Adviser is written by Clark Public Utilities. Send questions to ecod@clarkpud.com or to Energy Adviser, c/o Clark Public Utilities, P.O. Box 8900, Vancouver, WA 98668.
