Transcript:

An Illinois nonprofit is helping senior citizens stay in their homes by making their homes more energy efficient.

Many seniors on low or fixed incomes struggle with rising energy costs.

To save money, some allow their homes to get dangerously hot in summer or cold in winter. And some even have to move out and find a new place to live.

Gordon Voumard works on weatherization and energy efficiency with the nonprofit Senior Services Plus.

Voumard: “We’ve served a number of clients who are being priced out of their own homes that they’ve owned for years – decades in some cases – simply because they can’t afford to heat or cool them anymore.

Voumard’s group helps seniors get help from Ameren, the local utility, and other groups to pay for energy efficiency upgrades like insulation, new heating systems, or smart thermostats.

The group makes home repairs and installs the upgrades for free and then teaches the homeowners how to use their new appliances.

These upgrades make homes more comfortable and can save residents a lot of money.

Voumard: “What we hear back is typically about improvements to power bills and then improvements to quality of life that clients didn’t even realize was related to the energy efficiency of their home.”

And for some seniors, these savings may allow them to stay in their homes longer as they age.

Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media