When the city of Saginaw, Michigan, decided to direct $3.8 million of the $52 million it received in American Rescue Plan Act stimulus money toward a housing rehabilitation program, Consumers Energy saw an opportunity to help the city maximize its investment in a way that could directly benefit its customers.
The program planned to provide free replacement furnaces, roofs and windows to qualified city residents. “Our community affairs manager in Saginaw became aware of the city’s plans to provide furnaces to qualified residents and quickly made introductions between city leaders and our energy waste management program representatives,” Yvonne Lewis, Consumers Energy program manager for the Energy Waste Reduction Income Qualified, or EWR IQ, program, told American Gas. “The city’s work aligned with our program’s mission to help vulnerable customers more sustainably save energy and stretch their budgets through energy efficiency measures.”
Through the EWR IQ program, Consumers Energy will provide a rebate of $1,500 to Saginaw for each high-efficiency furnace the city installs as part of this program. Because the utility doesn’t like to “orphan” the water heater in the flue, high-efficiency water heaters will also be provided if needed.
Additionally, Consumers Energy will conduct an energy analysis on each home to see if it has other needs, such as air sealing, insulation, or refrigerator and lighting upgrades.
According to Lewis, the rebate funding will allow the city to provide additional furnaces beyond the number it allocated from the stimulus money, and customers will be upgraded to 96% efficient units.
Lewis added that the program builds on the company’s efforts to leverage funding with other resources and nonprofits to promote energy efficiency.
“Consumers Energy cares about our customers and takes many steps to help all our customers stay warm through Michigan winters,” she said. “We are proud to align with the city of Saginaw on this initiative to help vulnerable customers save energy and stretch their budgets more sustainably through energy efficiency measures.”