City warms up to weatherization plan

By Janelle Randazza

PEABODY—Things are warming up at 35 Herrick Road. After 54 years of living in her ranch-style home, Lorraine Lupezwicz’s house is getting a face-lift thanks to the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).
“It’s like those [reality] shows. Only my house is getting the make-over,” joked
Lupezwicz as she watched workers, take measurements to fit new windows to her family room, pump new insulation into the walls and replace an old oil heater in her basement.
“Oh, it’s just wonderful. It already feels warmer,” said the 81-year-old West Peabody resident.
Lupezwicz learned about the program when her oil burner failed earlier this winter. She said was already receiving monthly assistance to help pay for heating bills and called the North Shore Community Action Program (NSCAP) to find out of there was assistance for replacing her burner. What she found out was that the program could do so much more for her.
Lupezwicz is one of 83 Peabody residents to benefit from WAP, a program designed to help lower-income residents conserve and save heat. The program was created in 1976 by the Department of Energy to assist families who lacked the resources to invest in energy efficiency. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), estimates that it has provided weatherization assistance to over 160,000 homes in Massachusetts over the last 30 years.
“It is an important program that has had an enormous and fully measurable impact,” said Kenneth Rauseo, Deputy Director for Energy Programs at the DHCD. This year Massachusetts plans to offer assistance to 3,000 Massachusetts homes by the end of March. Rauseo estimates the project will save each home $414 in energy costs in the first year alone, totaling $1,242,000 in first-year energy costs statewide.
“That is just first year savings. We estimate that change will be affective for at least 20 years, so really what we are looking at is almost $2.5 billion worth of savings,” said Rauseo, who says that 70 percent of the people served by the program are elderly or handicapped.
Lupezwicz said that over the past few years, rising energy costs were making it difficult for her to stay in the home in which she had raised her two daughters in and had lived in for over half a century. She had made efforts to conserve, keeping her heat at 68 degrees, pulling shades at night and covering drafty windows and doors with blankets. The independent West Peabody resident said she had even looked into moving to an assisted living facility, hoping it would offer a less expensive living option, but Lupezwicz, who depends on Social Security, found that moving wasn’t an option she could afford on her fixed income.
The total cost to refit Lupezwicz’s home is $8,000, $1,500 of which was donated by Peabody Municipal Light Plant. If she lives in the home for an entire calendar year she will not have to repay the any of it. According to Congressman John Tierney and Mayor Michael Bonfanti, every penny spent on the project is money well spent.
“The beauty of this [program] is that it pays back every year. In the long run [the state] will actually be saving money on assistance and energy costs,” said Tierney, who was on hand for the event. The congressman says he is lobbying for more funding for the project, which has a “lengthy” waiting list.
“What we see is that there is a huge increase in evictions in winter months. People have to choose between rent and heat or heat and food. It comes down to whether people can afford to live,” said Tierney.
According to Lupezwicz, the ability to stay in her home is a “dream come true” and one that she worried would not be a reality for her, due to high energy costs.
“For a while I didn’t know what I was going to do. This is just marvelous. I don’t think people know that there is that much help out there,” said Lupezwicz.
The program is available through NSCAP to low-income residents, with priority for elderly, disabled and homes with children under the age of six. It is available to both homeowners and tenants with landlord approval. For more information or to find out if you are eligible for the fuel assistance or weatherization programs, visit www.northshorecap.org/fuelassist.htm or call (978) 531-0767 ext. 136.