This story is shared by a son who helps his parents manage their energy needs in Western Massachusetts.
My parents live in a 1,000 square foot house in Hawley, Massachusetts. The house was originally built as a hunting camp in the early 1900s. I don’t think it was ever intended to be a permanent home. The house itself is not particularly well insulated. They have electric baseboard heating and a wood stove. My parents used to rely on electric heat but as the years have gone by and the price of electricity has gone up, they’ve shifted to primarily heating their home with the wood stove. Both of my parents are retired due to health issues and they are living on a fixed income.
I live in the Boston area and I make the 2 hour drive to Hawley about every other weekend during the winter months to help chop the wood. Other family members also pitch in to help.
Last winter, due to a medical emergency, my parents had to rely more on the electric heating because we couldn’t prepare the wood. They are still working to pay off that electric bill. They think about the energy bills on a day to day basis, and are focused on what can save them the most money and make their lives easier.
With the wood stove my parents wake up during the middle of the night and in the early morning to check to make sure the wood stove hasn’t gone out. I worry about them going down slippery stairs in winter to bring the wood in. It has taken a village to keep the house warm. If electricity didn’t cost so much, it wouldn't have to be this way.
We looked into the state’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) but my parents were just above the Area Median Income (AMI) cut off so they were not eligible. People who are just above the AMI requirement end up getting screwed. The state needs to dedicate more funding to programs like this that assist low and moderate income homeowners with their energy bills.
My parents haven’t had a Mass Save assessment done on their house yet. We tried to set that up but then my father had a stroke and it was challenging to navigate this system amongst all the medical appointments. It will have to be me who makes the appointment for them. With some of the recommendations they’ll likely get from Mass Save - it’s tough because poor people can’t afford to put thousands of dollars towards something and wait for a rebate at the end of the year. You can’t wait to pay for food. It seems like because of this only wealthier people are getting access to these energy efficiency upgrades.
It seems to me like we need a subsidy program or cost control on electric rates to make them competitive with fossil fuel heating alternatives. We need to make electric heating more affordable than liquified natural gas or propane. Electric heating also needs to be competitive with biomass, like the wood pellet stoves that folks in Western Mass use.