The Tennessee Department of Human Services and 18 regional agencies are administering Tennessee's stimulus weatherization program, and should be the first places people contact to apply for assistance and rebates and grants information in their area.
Department spokeswoman Michelle Mowery Johnson estimated 11,000 to 12,000 homes would be worked on. Program funds must be spent by September 2010, even as some states face weatherization delays elsewhere.
Officials hope the stimulus money will help eliminate a 3,000-person statewide waiting list as agencies prepare for energy-efficient spending this year. The state typically funds about $6 million in upgrades to about 2,500 homes annually.
The federal money also will make it possible to increase the amount spent on each home from $3,500 to $6,500, and expanded income-eligibility guidelines. Now, a family of four can earn up to $44,100 and qualify for the program, compared with $33,075 before.
Elderly and disabled persons and families with small children will have priority.
Both homeowners and renters can apply, and upgrades can include insulation, air sealing, windows, heating, water heaters, air conditioning and electrical appliances.
But Johnson said energy auditors, not homeowners, will decide what needs to be done, and the work will be listed online and publicly bid. Contractors will be paid after a final inspection by a different auditor.
"It is not a repair program, it is very specific," Johnson said, and homeowners can't claim tax credits on the improvements.
DOE estimates every dollar spent on home weatherization saves $1.83 in energy costs, and a $5,000 weatherization grant can save a homeowner $350 a year on energy bills.
The department also estimates every $1 million spent on the weatherization program helps to create 52 direct jobs — such as contractors performing the actual labor and office workers processing the paperwork — and 23 indirect jobs — such as clerks at the home improvement stores or workers that manufacture the raw materials for the job.