“The home weatherization program is helping people, who might not otherwise be able to afford it, to make their homes more energy efficient,” said Sablan.
“It helps lower their CUC bills.
“So I’m very glad that we are getting about a 25 percent increase over the original $795,206 that we got for weatherizations from the Recovery Act.
“More people will now get money to improve their homes and lower their utility bills.”
In March this year NMI families began benefiting from the Weatherization Program. The first household, in Garapan, received a free refrigerator, two window air-conditioners, and low-energy light bulbs to help reduce its CUC bill.
About 10 families per month are now receiving the assistance.
“The Weatherization Program has been in existence nationally since 1976,” said Kilili. “But like so many federal programs no one in the last thirty years got the Northern Marianas included.
“But with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009 the people of the Northern Mariana Islands are no longer left out of this worthwhile program.”
Some of Sablan’s first votes in Congress were in favor of the Recovery Act over unanimous opposition by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
The jump in funding Sablan announced is the result of an audit by the Inspector General of the Department of Energy. Auditors discovered that the Department had used a different climate factor in computing the allocation of funds for the U.S. territories than it had used for allocating funds to states.
“The formula used for allocating funding to all grantees, except the territories, incorporated a 2004 climate factor based on the Energy Information Administration’s 2001 Residential Energy Consumption Survey. The Department’s formula for the territories, however, used an outdated 1995 climate factor,” the Inspector General reported.
As a result, all of the U.S. territories were shortchanged on weatherization funding.
The IG also advised that because of lack of transparency in the way the allocations were reported it would have been “difficult, if not impossible” for local government officials to spot the discrepancy.
“The department has already responded to the audit by agreeing to the IG’s recalculation of the correct funding. There will be other technical changes put into place, as well, to reduce the risk that this kind of mistake will happen again,” Sablan said.
