by the Community Weatherization Committee
The Community Weatherization Coalition (CWC) urges its supporters and clients to vote “yes” on the “Local Public Utilities” referendum this November to put our utility in the hands of locally-elected officials who know and represent our community’s needs and interests.
The CWC was founded in 2008 as a collaboration of nonprofit, government, faith-based, business, and university partners working together to address the high energy burdens faced by residents in Alachua County. We help our neighbors lower their utility bills by saving energy and water through engaging volunteers, building community, and learning together.
Our volunteer-led home energy “tune-ups” help neighbors who spend a disproportionate percentage of their household income on their utility bills. During our tune-ups, the CWC thoroughly inspects homes and installs cost-saving retrofits, such as energy efficient lighting and high efficiency shower heads.
Research has demonstrated that our efforts save residents an average of $200-$300 a year on utility costs per home, and shows persistent savings of over 10 percdent per year after 3-5 years.
Since our first volunteer training in 2008, we have assisted nearly 2,000 households with our home energy tune-up programs, including nearly 200 DIYers, and trained over 500 volunteer “energy coaches.” Annually, our in-home services help save 3.0 GWh of energy, 11.1 million gallons of water, and $455,940 in utility expenses.
GRU staff were instrumental in our organization’s founding, and we have worked closely with GRU’s LEEP (Low-income Energy Efficiency Program) program for nearly 20 years. GRU has regularly supported our organization financially to pay for the tune-ups that we provide to its customers. GRU staff have also helped train our volunteers, provided supplies for our tune-ups, and offered expertise to help make our tune-ups as effective as possible. We have always been, and will remain, strong supporters of our utility and its amazing staff.
But now the GRU Authority, established by the Florida legislature without local input, has instituted new leadership and a dangerous new governing philosophy, one that disparages investments in renewable energy and undermines efforts to make our homes more efficient consumers of energy and water.
Support for the CWC’s programs has been terminated by the Authority, which is forging a new path that puts it not only at odds with the goals of sustainability and this community, but also contrary to the direction of other successful utilities throughout Florida.
We hope that others will join us in rejecting this imposition of governance by outside political appointees and help chart a new path forward for our locally-owned utility, its customers, and our community.