Lawmakers hear Vermont weatherization program update as ARPA, training plans continue and federal funds face uncertainty

House Energy and Digital Infrastructure members heard an update April 16 from the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) on Vermont's Weatherization Assistance Program, including recent growth in spending, the mix of federal and state funding used to pay for work, efforts to scale the workforce and plans for a new training center.

OEO Director Lily Sovern and Jeff Wilcox, OEO's weatherization director, told the committee the program aims to reduce energy costs for low-income households while ensuring health and safety and cutting carbon emissions. "The program's free for income eligible clients," Wilcox said, and the office reported an average of about $11,500 in energy-efficiency work per completed unit in the most recent program year.

The nut of the briefing was funding and capacity. Wilcox said the office awarded roughly $26,000,000 in grants to six local agencies for the current program year, a mix of federal and state sources. The biggest share is federal: Department of Energy weatherization funds, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money and funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). State revenue comes largely from a 2-cent-per-gallon tax on heating fuels (identified in testimony as the HVAP fund); Wilcox said that source produces about $10,000,000 a year but is declining as use of bulk fuels falls.

Wilcox described a longstanding constraint from the Department of Energy: a federal allowable-per-unit cap (stated in testimony as $8,000) that the state says is insufficient to fully weatherize many Vermont homes. To address that limit, Wilcox said OEO "grades" (braids) DOE funds with state HVAP and other federal funds so the per-unit budget is sufficient.

Program scale and results. Wilcox said the network employed roughly 50 weatherization crew workers across the six agencies and used more than 30 subcontractors (heating contractors, plumbers, electricians and heat-pump contractors). He said the state recently surpassed prior spending levels, reporting more than $20.8 million was spent on weatherization in the most recent year and telling the committee the program completed more than 1,300 homes last year.

Workforce and training. Wilcox and Sovern said the state increased required minimum wages for crew workers and crew chiefs in recent years, producing a reported hiring boost. Wilcox gave a minimum crew-worker wage of $22.98 per hour and said total compensation including a 42.5% fringe rate is "just under $30 an hour." The office said those changes coincided with roughly a 30% increase in units completed compared with several years earlier.

OEO also has executed a contract with Everblue, a national training-center operator, to run a Vermont training center. Wilcox said the DOE awarded an enhancement and innovation grant to establish the center and that Everblue will deliver certifications and in-person field training; the site, he said, is being finalized and will be a central test site for Building Performance Institute field exams. Sovern and Wilcox described the DOE grant as a one-time start-up award; the contractor's business model anticipates state, regional and private customers for ongoing sustainability.

Hazard abatements and home repairs. Committee members pressed the office on vermiculite (an insulation material found in some attics that may contain asbestos). Wilcox said homes with vermiculite require abatement before crews can air-seal and insulate. OEO said about 1 in 10 homes in the housing stock it serves contains vermiculite and that a Solomolite (Zonolite) trust in Libby, Montana, provides a sample-based reimbursement up to about $5,000 for eligible abatement costs; Wilcox said about 85% of sampled projects have qualified for that money. The office is also using ARPA funds for a vermiculite/home-repair grant and to cover other obstacles to completing weatherization (leaky roofs, rotted sills, basement drainage problems).

Standards and quality control. Wilcox said OEO conducts quality assurance by inspecting 10% of completed units for each agency; installations include blower-door testing, worst-case draft testing for combustion appliances and installation of mechanical ventilation to meet indoor-air-quality guidance (he cited ASHRAE standards and Building Performance Institute certification requirements).

Multifamily and eligibility issues. OEO officials said ARPA-funded multifamily projects used a 50% low-income-unit threshold to treat whole buildings, compared with a Department of Energy 66% threshold; state statute for HVAP funds requires 25% low-income units for whole-building work. Wilcox also described eligibility rules: households qualify if their gross income for the prior 12 months is below 80% of area median income or below 200% of the federal poverty level; fuel-assistance recipients are auto-eligible.

Federal-funding risks and timeline. Committee members asked whether ARPA, IRA and other federal funds may change. Wilcox and Sovern said ARPA funds are being spent down with a stated aim to exhaust those funds by March 2026. They also told lawmakers they are watching Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other federal allocations that the Public Service Department manages and said those funds are important to maintaining current spending levels into state fiscal years 2027'28.

No formal committee votes were recorded during the briefing. Lawmakers asked for follow-up materials, and OEO said it would provide eligibility guidance and other documents.

Ending: Officials said the program will keep using mixed funding streams to raise per-unit budgets above federal caps, continue expanding crew capacity and proceed with the Everblue training center while monitoring the availability of federal funds that sustain current service levels.