With inflation and winter’s chill causing skyrocketing utility bills, many Upper Peninsula residents are struggling to manage costs. While the Superior Watershed Partnership’s (SWP) Energy and Climate Office is best known for offering income-qualified households direct assistance with heat and electric bills, it also provides valuable energy efficiency services that can meaningfully lower household costs.
The SWP’s team can pinpoint where a house loses energy, as well as other health and safety issues, and offers a suite of home improvements. Most importantly, these services are available for free to qualifying households at or below 150% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, this would mean a countable monthly income of less than $3,469, or a countable yearly income of less than $41,625.
As a Michigan Energy Assistance Program grantee, the SWP assists Upper Peninsula residents in energy crisis, and also offers affordable payment plans and energy security planning, including personalized energy education and financial counseling. For over a decade, the Energy and Climate Office has used this model to help thousands of households manage difficult bills. However, the years have shown that working with customers in their homes is sometimes the only way to mitigate factors causing consistently high bills.
A “one stop energy efficiency shop,” the SWP Energy and Climate Office offers utility payments and expert energy efficiency services within the same program. It’s a novel approach, made possible through ongoing relationships between customers and staff.
Indeed, energy efficiency services could be considered the culmination of the SWP’s model. Using the Home Energy Score system, a tool developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, expert Energy Technicians visit customers and identify where and why a house is losing energy.
These appointments cost nothing for the homeowner and also include complimentary Energy Efficiency Kits valued at $50. If customers are approved for State Emergency Relief through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, technicians can return to provide home energy improvements including insulation, draft sealing, pipe wrapping, and other specialized services customized to each household’s needs.
Whether you’ve worked with the SWP Energy and Climate Office in the past or are a new customer, the SWP stands ready to assist during this difficult season.
The SWP Energy and Climate Office, located at 1104 N. 3rd Street in Marquette, is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m., to assist income-qualified residents with any energy related needs, including: MI Bridges account creation, SER applications, SWP MEAP requirements and assistance, energy education, financial counseling, and in-home energy efficiency services. Upper Peninsula residents in need are encouraged to stop by the office or call at (906)-273-2742.
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