AHFC Saturday Was a Success!

Yesterday we organized our latest communication outreach: to help citizens deal with the AHFC’s new Home Energy Rebate Program (NOTE LATEST CHANGES/IMPROVEMENTS HERE). We called yesterday, “AHFC Saturday”, an effort designed to help fellow citizens deal with a somewhat complex process for obtaining up to $10k in reimbursements for home energy improvements. (Click here for photos.)

I met with Teeny Metcalf and John Anderson last week to prepare for yesterday. These two executives of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation are examples of the dedication and diligence of our state employees. Teeny is the Research & Rural Development Officer and John is a Weatherization Officer within the Research and Rural Development section. I found that they had accurately identified some of the challenges inherent in this program, created this year by the Legislature. I also found that they are intent on improving the program and that we can all expect to see those improvements shortly. The primary improvement needed is something akin to a “one stop shop” telephone number at AHFC whereby a citizen can call in, verify by receipt of a reservation number his or her place on the wait list to obtain a home energy rating. It would be efficient for AHFC to verify our places on a ‘wait list’ for an energy rating and then dispatch an authorized Home Energy Rater to our homes by appointment…just like customer service oriented companies would do in the private sector. Right now, one calls rater after rater and seldom gets a call back due to the flood of work each one experiences. It’s not AHFC’s fault and it’s not the raters’ faults. The program was launched quickly and, while there are bugs, they are being professionally addressed.

The program itself is producing impressive results. AHFC expects to have rated up to 9,000 homes by year end. If each home rated produces an average rebate of $6,100 about $54 million could have been pumped into the Alaskan economy statewide by the time those homes are rated, and that represents only about a quarter of the total investment authorized.

My advice is for citizens to keep calling raters for an appointment and hope that within the next week or two the folks at AHFC will be announcing improvements to the already impressive process.

Below is the copy of a letter I distributed to several dozen visitors to our open house yesterday. I explained to our visitors that we were providing a summary of the Home Energy Rebate Program we believed to be accurate. But we cautioned every visitor that the real energy rebate experts at AHFC should be approached with further questions. We had energy economist Steve Pratt and Matt Toro (an insulation and installation expert with Denali Windows) at our open house to help answer questions.

All feedback was positive and we had a great time. We’ll be doing the same thing next Saturday, so if you want to drop by Boniface & N. Lights then, between 10-12, we’ll do our best to answer your Home Energy Rebate Program questions and direct you to the correct office at AHFC for follow up questions.

AHFC Home Energy Rebate Program Summary

Dear East Anchorage Friends:

This information sheet should help you in your quest to obtain AHFCs approval for up to $10k in rebates for bills you pay in conjunction with energy efficiency upgrades to your homes. These upgrades could reduce your energy bills by 30-40%. For specific information please rely on the official AHFC webpage: http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/energy/weatherization_rebates.cfm. (Also, find the rebate application here: http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/iceimages/energy/energy_rating_reimbursement_application.pdf; the Rebate Factsheet here: http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/iceimages/energy/home_energy_rebate_factsheet_03.pdf; and program guidelines here: http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/iceimages/energy/her_program_guidelines.pdf. )

1. The first challenge youll have is accomplishing the first step: obtaining an appointment with an authorized €œEnergy Rater€ from the list below (current as of today, 9-20-08). Youll need to keep trying until youre successful (Footnote).

Anchorage

Brooks, Stuart
Energy Design Assoc.
907-696-5573(phone/fax)
Eagle River

Curry, David A.
Curry Inspection
907-376-4652
dac ”at” mtaonline ”dot” net
P.O. Box 877398
Wasilla
99687-7398

Diemer, James
BR-3 Energy Rating
907-980-1083
br3energyrating ”at” gmail ”dot” com
P.O. Box 231692
Anchorage
99523-1692

Feiler, Geoff
Heat Loss Analysis, Inc.
907-563-0773/563-8061 (fax)
hla ”at” alaska ”dot” net
4128 Wright Street
Anchorage
99508-5347

Jenkins, Jeff
Ak. Prof. Enrgy Rat. Inc.
907-373-3740
akproenergy ”at” mtaonline ”dot” net
P.O. Box 879584
Wasilla
99687-9584

Oster, Matt
Red Edge Design, LLC
907-563-1119
rededgedesignllc ”at” gmail ”dot” com
3842 Williams Street
Anchorage
99508

Renfro, Chuck
Energy Efficiency Assoc.
907-277-0955
crenfro ”at” alaska ”dot” net
P.O. Box 103991
Anchorage
99510-3991

2. The Rater will present you with an As-Is rating certificate and the rating will result in an €œImprovement Options Report€. Youll submit that certificate to AHFC along with property information, the energy raters invoice and a reimbursement application. You should be reimbursed for the As-Is rating within two months and this reimbursement process formally includes you in the rebate program.

3. After you are reimbursed, you should make improvements within a year and a half, as identified in your €œImprovement Options Report€.

4. The official AHFC material will instruct you about various requirements leading to reimbursement. But you should know that your reimbursement can only be for actual expenses related to having approved work done. Finally, your reimbursement will be calculated based on obtaining actual home energy use improvements as determined by a new energy rating certificate the rater creates after you make your improvements.

This is only a summary based on my personal research and I encourage you to obtain official information from the good folks at AHFC (330-8300) and from its website.

Sincerely,

dave@harbourak.us