Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) announced a $31 million investment from the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to lower costs and increase energy efficiency for Maine’s hardworking families. The Infrastructure Law Pingree helped pass expanded WAP so more working families can have their homes retrofitted. WAP home retrofitting includes installing insulation, updating heating and cooling systems, upgrading electrical appliances, and making other common-sense changes to keep homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer with less energy usage. 

“This winter, Mainers have been faced with staggering utility bills. Expanded funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program will help slash monthly energy bills for hardworking Maine families, create good-paying jobs, and reduce emissions,” said Congresswoman Pingree. “This is one of the many reasons I was proud to help pass the Infrastructure Law.”

This expanded funding for Maine is part of $3.16 billion in new funding for states, Tribes, and territories through WAP—the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) largest residential energy retrofit program. 

Since 1976, WAP has served over seven million households and delivered an average of $372 in annual energy savings for American families. Today’s funding announcement will transform the WAP program by expanding weatherization services to ten times current funding levels, creating jobs, and reestablishing economic opportunities in communities that have been hit the hardest by economic, racial, and environmental injustices. In addition to creating more energy-efficient homes, weatherization investments make homes more resilient to climate change, help create good-paying jobs, reduce energy costs, and support cleaner air and public health.  

Click here to read more about the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program.

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