CUC to audit homes involved in CHEER project
(CNS): The homes that have been and will be selected by the Cayman Islands Government to take part in the CHEER project will be audited by CUC. The audits will establish what needs to be done to help them save money on bills and to sustain that going forward. The home retrofit programme is funded by the Ministry of Climate Resiliency and being delivered by Resilience Cayman, a local non-profit, for lower-income families living in small homes with elderly residents, children or those with health problems.
CUC has now said it will offer 28 home energy monitors and conduct energy audits for selected homes to identify the improvements and provide individualized insight into the homeowners’ energy usage and customised recommendations for the upgrades. It will also equip eligible homes with state-of-the-art electronic monitors to help them track energy consumption.
These audits will soon be available as a service from CUC that all homeowners will be able to use to help cut their energy bills. CUC VP Sacha Tibbetts said the company was in full support of the CHEER programme.
“Our Company piloted an energy audit programme and has seen how it can improve the lives of our customers and provide them with the tools to manage their energy consumption and lower their energy bills. The Company continues to be a supporter of energy-saving tactics and we are committed to finding solutions to lower energy costs and consumption for all of our customers,” he said.
Resilience Cayman and CUC’s joint effort is to address the dual challenge of escalating energy costs and environmental concerns by promoting energy efficiency in Caymanian households, and the installation of the energy monitors is now underway.
Resilience Cayman Chairperson Jan Gupta said that with the escalating cost of living and the prohibitive cost of energy-saving upgrades, families that would benefit the most are the ones with the least means to do it.
“This is where the CHEER programme comes in. Once we were selected by the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency to deliver the programme, we reached out to CUC, whom we have worked with previously for other community initiatives. I am grateful for CUC’s support as they have offered to provide complimentary energy audits and energy monitors for this programme,” she said.
CUC will help identify the sources of energy wastage in homes so Resilience Cayman can replace or repair appliances and air-conditioning units. Monitoring the improvement in energy consumption after the upgrades will help document the impact of the CHEER programme with the ministry.
See here for more information and access to the application page.
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Category: Local News
In case CUC wasn’t aware, an audit needs to be independent!
In spite of all the negative comments, CIG and CUC are NOT criminal enterprises.
Have a little respect for those that serve.
Once I learned that the talking heads at CUC all have solar power for their own homes I stopped paying attention. All the bogus methodologies they spewed claiming to reduce bills can’t be very useful if those at the helm of CUC dont use them and opted for solar.
zzzzzzz
Please go on and name them.
I’ll wait. Bet you can’t manage more than one person.
In the US this is called Weatherization Assistance Program. Each State has an agency that accepts and approves applications based on a household income. Then they do energy audits and hire WAP approved contractors for the actual Weatherization.
Where it gets interesting, based on the first hand experience-nobody monitors these agencies in terms of how and on what they spend money. Their books are audited alright, but nobody actually looks deeper, and if they did, they would find out that corruption, collusion, fraud, theft etc. not just rampant, it is organized.
People who qualify for WAP have low income and often uneducated, unless they are educated disabled. So they don’t question an WAP agency, for they don’t know what they are entitled to. An Agency could unilaterally refuse to, for example, replace windows, simply saying it is too expensive, even though there is no limit on how much they could spend on the windows replacement, or promise to install certain things they’re obligated to instal, never actually installing it. After they “finish” their work, they make people sign a paper that states they are satisfied with the work, without listing the “work” that was done. There is no listing of the materials that were used either.
Lastly, it is nearly impossible to report the potential abuse by a WAP agency-nobody cares. The money come from the Federal budget to each State and nobody cares how it is spent-there is no oversight.
What does it have to do with Cayman? Well, your CHEER programme is no different from the US WAP.
This article demonstrates just how difficult, even impossible to report fraud, abuse etc in the US. I bet it’s not much different in Cayman.
Marine veteran Sarah Feinberg who tried to stop Booz Allen defense contractor from defrauding taxpayers is awarded $69 MILLION of the $377 million restitution the firm is ordered to pay under little-known law https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12455355/Marine-veteran-Sarah-Feinberg-tried-stop-Booz-Allen-defense-contractor-defrauding-taxpayers-awarded-69-MILLION-377-million-restitution-firm-ordered-pay-little-known-law.html
I’m guessing this bogus initiative will bring more CHEER to CUC not the customer.
ha ha ha ha! ok..here is how you save more so we can charge you more…lol….bottom line..if u want live here…PAY THE PRICE! INCLUDING CAYMANIANS! SAD
When do we hear who was selected to take part and get the CHEER benefits? We sent in our application weeks ago, and I know the closing was 31st August but we haven’t been contacted.
How were people selected then?
I see since they published the original criteria they now list some other ones they hadn’t mentioned before
“for lower-income families living in small homes with elderly residents, children or those with health problems.”
I don’t have children or elderly people living with me so now I don’t qualify. Then why did I waste 2 hours of my time filling in their questionnaire for them to only add these extra details now?
•you have to keep calling them and request a written explanation if they don’t approve your application.
•each application must be registered and each decision-rejection or approval documented
•qualification criteria must be clearly spelled out and every application’ criteria and supporting documents verified
“we haven’t been contacted” – You must receive a written response.
“so now I don’t qualify”- qualification is usually based on the income limit. So having an elderly or children is not a “must” criteria, income limit should still apply.
this is how it is done in Florida:
https://floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-development/community-services/weatherization-assistance-program#:~:text=Eligible%20Applicants,(repeated%20high%20utility%20bills).
Can the words Cheer and CUC be used in the same sentence?
Guess so as you obviously have electricity to power your computer or charge your phone!
Yes. If you’re a shareholder.
Why don’t you become a share holder ? pay a few extra dollars on your bill each month towards shares.Of course you have excuses.
What a joke