The Morgan County Commissioners opened up 5 bids for the upcoming local administration of the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program Monday morning.
The program is designed to help low-income residents save fuel and money while increasing the comfort of their homes. Income-eligible households with high energy bills in relation to income, and those containing young children, persons with a disability, and/or elderly members will be given priority and receive service priority.
Morgan County Regional Planning Director Dusty Douglas says he is disappointed in the amount of bids: “We have bids for architectural and HVAC for the weatherization’s upcoming program year. As always, we would like to have more bids. It’s kind of down locally. I know it’s a question that the commissioners always ask. We had 3 local vendors who did not submit any bids, so a little disappointment with that.”
Douglas says if the five bids that were received fall out of an acceptable range with the State of Illinois for the program, the county will have to seek other vendors to be in the dollar-amount range required.
Douglas says the program gets intake from a number of programs that MCS Community Services offers: “People are looking to weatherize to make their homes more energy efficient. When they inquire about that, they learn about this program and basically kind of get in a line as funds are available. Depending upon where they fall within the three counties; they try to, on a percentage basis, spread our finances throughout the three counties. When the funds are available, we have a crew that goes out and works on the envelope of the home.”
Douglas says that the work can range from outdoors to indoors, and even major appliances: “Now, with so many new appliances, you can get into water heaters, faucets, lighting, and those type of things…just anything you can think of to save on an energy bill to make it cheaper for a homeowner.”
The bids will officially be voted on by the Commissioners at their July 24th meeting. For more information on the program, please call MCS Community Services at 217-243-9404 or toll-free 1-888-288-4413.