Rhode Islanders save hundreds with home upgrades

 By: Alexandra Cowley 

acowley@abc6.com 

You could be wasting hundreds of dollars on your electric and gas bills, but National Grid is hoping to change that. It has a plan for Rhode Islanders to save money and go green, all while creating local jobs. In their 1950’s Rumford home, the Winter and Summer months can be a bit of a struggle for the Lyon’s family.

“We have to turn the heat on like an hour, two hours before we go upstairs so it’s warm enough,” said daughter Scout Lyons. The girls bedrooms are basically the attic, which has no insulation. So, not only are they uncomfortable, but their money is literally seeping out of the home.

“It seems like our oil bill goes up and up every year and we say how are we going to do it? Because as a nurse and a teacher we haven’t gotten raises in years,” explained mom, Mary Lyons. 

Through National Grid, the RISE program offers free home energy audits. It includes swapping out old light bulbs for new energy efficient ones at no cost.

“The average reduction is about 70 percent and they do provide the same amount of lighting,” said RISE auditor John Clinton. 

The auditors also check for air leaks and what it would cost to properly insulate a home. In the Lyons‘ case, it was just over 4,000 dollars to weatherize their home. In an effort to motivate consumers, National Grid is offering to pay 25 percent of the total cost bringing the bill to 2,600 dollars.

Also, the more people who sign up for these audits, the more jobs it will create.

Senator Jack Reed said, “It saves dollars so every family wants to do that. It puts people to work, we all want that to happen, and in the long term it’s going to have a positive effect on the environment.”

This program is just one part of National Grid’s energy efficient initiative which is projected to save Rhode Islanders over 25 million annually in electricity and gas costs.

(C) WLNE-TV 2014