Industry Comes Together to Support Weatherization Readiness

In early June, US Representatives Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), Bobby Rush (IL-1), and Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) introduced the Weatherization Enhancement and Readiness Act, legislation that would save low-income families hundreds of dollars on their energy bills while making homes safer, healthier, and more energy efficient.

In order to build support for this new legislation, the Building Performance Association (BPA) and E4TheFuture reached out to its members and stakeholders to let their voices be heard by signing a grassroots letter asking congressional leaders to support improving the home performance of low-income households.

In total, we received 960 signatures and our two Weatherization Enhancement and Readiness Act support letters (both grassroots and stakeholders) have been sent to every member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. Because of your support, we were able to tout constituent sign-ons for nearly all Hill offices we communicated with.

The Weatherization Enhancement & Readiness Act would strengthen the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) by:

• Nearly doubling the statutory Average Cost Per Unit to $12,000 so that households can receive more assistance, and WAP implementers can pay competitive wages and retain their workforces
• Establishing a Weatherization Readiness Program to address structural, plumbing, roofing, and electrical issues, and environmental hazards with dwelling units unable to receive effective assistance from WAP
• Authorizing $90 million annually through Fiscal Year 2027 for the Weatherization Readiness Program
• Making other minor and clarifying changes to WAP

Along with BPA, the legislation is supported by the following organizations:

• Acadia Center
• Advanced Energy Economy (AEE)
• Alliance to Save Energy (ASE)
• American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
• Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP)
• Building Decarbonization Coalition
• Building Performance Association (BPA)
• Building Performance Institute (BPI)
• E4TheFuture
• Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI)
• Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI)
• Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance / Energy Efficiency Alliance of New Jersey (KEEA/EEA-NJ)
• Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA)
• National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO)
• National Association For State Community Services Programs (NASCSP)
• National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO)
• National Community Action Foundation (NCAF)
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
• RMI
• The South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER)
• Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP)
• US Green Building Council (USGBC)

Learn more about the bill here.