Energy$mart Program Helps Keep New Mexicans Warm

Workers from Central New Mexico Housing Corporation weatherize a Bernalillo home.Although most of us sleep warmly every night and wake up to a hot shower every morning, there are many New Mexico families that do not. Consider…

  • Jackie and her children sleep huddled together for warmth in the old adobe house her grandfather built. The heater is broken and several windows are cracked. Most of the rooms in the house are closed off to make the space heaters more effective.
  • Rudy is about to have a double hip replacement and has had no hot water for three months.
  • Jill and her four teenaged children had no heat all last winter. The mobile home they live in had several windows without glass. Using electric space heaters cost Jill almost $400 a month – a debt that took months to pay off.

In 2007, 1,800 homes like these were improved through weatherization services made possible by the New Mexico Energy$mart program. Federal, state and utility funding provided $5.2 million to the program, which is administered through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority. Weatherization services are performed by four non-profit providers located throughout the state. Households with incomes at or below 150 percent of the national poverty level are eligible for the program.

Energy expenses often take a big toll on low-income families.  Utility costs account for about 14 percent of a low-income family's gross income compared to 5 percent of a middle-income family's income. When a home is weatherized through the New Mexico Energy$mart program, heating costs are reduced by about 32 percent, with an average reduction in overall energy costs of 15 percent.

Last October, 70-year-old Cindy Dominguez had her Bernalillo house weatherized through the Energy$mart program. The house, where Dominguez was born, received new windows, attic insulation, a new heater, lighting retrofits, caulking and weather stripping. In addition to being warm for the first time in many years, Dominguez should see her energy expenses drop from almost 10 percent of her fixed income to 3.2 percent.

“I’ve been so happy,” Dominguez said. “My friends come over and tell me how warm it is. I’ve had so many people call and ask how they can get help, too.”

  • Top photo:  Workers from Central New Mexico Housing Corporation weatherize a Bernalillo home.