Warm Your Whare Ruapehu

TIGHT DEADLINE FOR FREE HOME INSULATION APPLICATIONS

Households wanting to be considered for free or subsidised insulation under the current Healthy Homes funding round need to get their application in to Council before Friday 10th June.

Ruapehu District Council (RDC) Policy Analyst Samantha Arthur-Curtis said that the tight deadline was due to uncertainty around future government funding.

This means that all applications need to be into Council, processed, and the homes assessed before 30 June, she said.

To qualify for consideration for free insulation a household needs to meet specific criteria.

The applicant householder must possess a Community Services Card and those living in the home must meet one of the following criteria; be over 65 years of age; be living with children under 17 years of age; have a respiratory illness.

The government funding for Healthy Homes is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) who will cover half the insulation costs for qualifying households.

Ms. Arthur-Curtis said that thanks to the generosity of the King Country Electric Power Trust, The Lines Company and King Country Energy the other 50% of the insulation costs can be covered allowing the no cost' offer to be made to high needs households.

As with any initiative of this type unfortunately the funding is limited.

We are hoping that the current funding allocation will allow us to insulate around 40 homes for free.

Ms. Arthur-Curtis added that the details of any household that meet the criteria but miss out on this round will be kept in case more funding becomes available in the future.

Also, households should note that even if they don't meet the criteria for the EECA 50% subsidy they may still be eligible for financial assistance from other sources.

The important thing for any household needing insulation is to complete the application form and get it into Council.

More information and an application form can be found at: http://goo.gl/knXhTZ

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