Help My HouseStatement of Activities

Help My House, administered by KW SAVINGS CO., a South Carolina nonprofit organization (“KW Savings”)[1] is a program to assist South Carolina homeowners served by participating electric cooperatives by providing upgrades to the high-efficiency HVAC, air sealing, duct sealing, and insulation in a home (the “retrofits”). Typically, the retrofits are financed by the homeowners via zero-down, low-interest loans.  KW Savings will use the Housing Preservation Grant funds to pay for the cost of the audit, developing software, and providing the retrofits to the homes.  This is a homeowner assistance program. At this time, the participating cooperatives are Aiken Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“Aiken”), Black River Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“Black River”), Santee Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“Santee”), and Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc (“Tri-County”).  Together, these electric cooperatives serve the following counties: Aiken, Barnwell, Calhoun, Clarendon, Edgefield, Florence, Georgetown, Greenwood, Kershaw, Lee, Lexington, McCormick, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, Sumter, and Williamsburg. Of these Barnwell, Clarendon, Lee, Orangeburg, and Williamsburg are persistent poverty counties.

On average, Aiken retrofits 40-50 homes per year, Santee retrofits 25-30 homes per year, and Black River retrofits five homes per year. Tri-County does not operate this program every year, however, it is willing to retrofit homes. The employees at the cooperatives administering Help My House serve in a variety of roles and the lack of resources is a barrier keeping more homes from being served.

To qualify for Help My House, a homeowner reaches out to its local participating cooperative and inquire about a lower electric bill.  Aiken, Santee, and Tri-County advertise Help My House on their websites, and the program is also advertised on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s website.  The applicant must have a history of paying electric utility bill on time.  For homes to benefit from the Housing Preservation Grant Funds, the electric cooperative representative will also ask a few other screening questions, including income verification requirements to comply with the Housing Preservation Grant requirement that the participant be low- or very low-income (as provided