Mold stretches in dark masses across Elizabeth Rodriguez’s basement walls. The Barre resident lives on a hill, but the July floods still reached her, she said, and the effects were even worse than what her neighbors faced.
The mold has made her house unsafe to live in. It’s also rendered her pellet stove unusable, and even if the mold problem is resolved, she’s not sure whether she’ll be able to get her heating system fixed in time for winter.
Vermont officials are urging residents to fix their heating systems now, before temperatures drop and contractors are frantic with requests for help. Workers in the heating business get busy when the cold weather hits, and flood-damaged heating systems are likely to add to the frenzy, potentially causing longer wait times for service.
“You’re thinking about having a cold drink and sitting outside,” Matt Cota, the owner of a consulting group that represents fuel dealers in Vermont, said on Wednesday, when 80-degree-plus temperatures in Burlington set heat records. “But the reality is, November’s just around the corner. And if everyone waits until the last minute, you have the same problem you have in any industry, where everyone wants the same thing at the same time.”
Rodriguez isn’t waiting around — she wants to get her pellet stove fixed. But while officials have offered a range of programs to help Vermonters pay for flood-damaged heating systems, none of them work for her.
Vermont lawmakers have channeled $36 million to fix flood-damaged heating systems through Efficiency Vermont, which provides rebates to customers who purchase energy-efficient appliances, including up to $10,000 back for income-qualifying households.
That money can pay for heat systems that range from electric heat pumps to boilers and furnaces that use fossil fuels, so long as they’re certified by Energy Star.
In some ways, the flood has presented an opportunity for Vermonters who have outdated heating systems to upgrade to new ones that pollute less and reduce monthly heating bills. The thermal sector — made up of the systems that heat and cool buildings in Vermont — is responsible for more greenhouse gases than almost any other sector. It ranked similarly to transportation in the state’s most recent data.
Micah Heaney-Forbes, an energy adviser at Efficiency Vermont, said that, anecdotally, the organization has witnessed increased interest in heat pumps since the floods.
“That is among the most frequent calls that we get,” he said.
But time is running out for Vermonters to fix their systems before the cold hits, and upgrading to electric heat pumps often requires other work, such as ensuring a home is properly insulated.
“In three weeks, we might have a frost, and if people have existing infrastructure that — maybe they don’t have the electrical service in order to handle it, maybe their home’s not weatherized and can’t be in time — they’re going to need heat regardless over the next year,” Cota said. “And the funding does allow for fossil fuel heat to go in.”
Either way, Rodriguez doesn’t have the upfront cash to purchase a new pellet stove and be paid back later by Efficiency Vermont. While that organization and others are offering loan programs that cover up to $30,000 in heat system upgrades and fixes, Rodriguez can’t swing those costs. She said she needs social services such as disability payments and housing vouchers to get by.
“I can’t afford to get a loan,” she said. “If anything, I will get a loan for a car that I really need, really bad.”
Rodriguez received some money — between $2,000 and $3,000, she said — from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but not nearly enough to cover the problems in her house, which include a cracked foundation, also related to the flooding, in addition to the mold and damaged pellet stove. She’s appealing the claim and hopes the agency will increase her award.
She’s been trying to find ways to make her budget stretch for a hotel room until the mold in her house is gone but has had to sleep on her daughter’s couch and, recently, return home.
At Gov. Phil Scott’s weekly press conference last week, Peter Walke, managing director of Efficiency Vermont, acknowledged that upfront capital has been a barrier for low-income Vermonters with damaged heating systems.
“We’re working with partners to try to better understand what that need is, and how we can help meet it through existing and expanded loan programs and other ways for folks to be able to access the capital they need, so then the rebates we offer can come in on the back end,” he told reporters.
Some of those programs include a zero-interest Home Energy Loan through Efficiency Vermont and a forthcoming loan program through Vermont State Employees Credit Union, a division of New England Federal Credit Union, to “stand up a new opportunity that streamlines access to incentives without the burden of upfront cost. This new system should be ready by the end of the month,” Kelly Lucci, director of strategy and partnerships for Efficiency Vermont, said in an emailed statement.
Efficiency Vermont has also offered to pay the contractor directly if residents ask them to submit their invoice directly to Efficiency Vermont, according to Lucci.
Meanwhile, the state has been trying to understand how many Vermonters’ heating systems were damaged in the flooding. At first, FEMA data suggested that the flood damaged systems in about 1,000 homes.
Working from that data, state officials sent an emailed survey to everyone who reported heat system damages, then followed up with phone calls.
According to data from the governor’s office, provided to VTDigger on Wednesday, the state has received 504 responses. Of those, 214 people said their heat is working; 290 said they either have no heat or don’t know whether their system is functioning.
Of the 290 who don’t have heat, 224 do not have a repair scheduled.
Liz Scharf, director of community economic development at Capstone Community Action, which serves Washington County, said she expects more Vermonters will find they need repairs when they turn their heating systems on for the first time as temperatures drop.
Every situation is different, and many are complicated, she said.
“We are concerned,” she said, and the organization is actively working to find solutions.
Doug Farnham, Vermont’s chief flood recovery officer, said his office asked households if they anticipated that it would be difficult for them to pay for repairs. Many said it would.
“Aside from the individual assistance (through FEMA), and the Efficiency Vermont program, it’s possible that there’s an unmet need here,” he said. “And we’re going to try to identify that and if we can scope it out enough, potentially see how it can be met.”