Elyria accepts NOPEC money, plans to use it for new emergency repair fund

ELYRIA – On Tuesday, City Council voted to accept nearly $100,000 from the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council, or NOPEC, which will be used to fund a new program to help residents repair their home heating and cooling systems. Mayor Kevin Brubaker said that the money from NOPEC would be used to fund the creation of an emergency home repair program focusing on water heaters and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems. The new program will mirror Elyria's existing emergency home repair fund program, but will focus on heating and cooling because NOPEC money must be used for projects which improve energy efficiency. "When your water heater goes out, that is an emergency," Brubaker told The Chronicle. "We will provide the dollars to replace it. If your HVAC goes out, heating or cooling, because we know seniors need air conditioning, we will replace that. Now, we are not doing the duct work and all that, we will replace the units." NOPEC is a public aggregator that provides gas and electricity to users across Northeast Ohio, including in Elyria and most of Lorain County. The organization also provides grants and funding such as the energy efficiency grant Council accepted Monday. Elyria has received money from NOPEC annually for many years, but Brubaker said this would be the first time that money was used for a repair program for residents directly. In the past, the city has used money it received from NOPEC for municipal emergency efficiency upgrades, like replacing the lights in Ely Square and at Finwood Estates and installing more efficient windows at City Hall. In Brubaker's decades working with the city, he said he did not remember any previous time that NOPEC energy efficiency money was given directly to homeowners for projects. "(NOPEC officials) were very happy that we were looking to do something with the money to basically give back to the community, because that is really where this money comes from," Brubaker said. "... This just came to me one night watching the news. I am listening to what is happening with the economy and what is going on in our city, and this just popped into my head. And fortunately, NOPEC was 100 percent on board." To try and reach more residents, the program will have a higher income limit than the city's existing home repair program. Because the current program uses federal funding, it must abide by Department of Housing and Urban Development income limits, but NOPEC places no such requirement on the funding it will give to the city. "These (federal) grants are typically for low to moderate income households, but there are people just above that level who may have a need at times as well," Brubaker said. "So this is going to bridge that gap a little bit." Brubaker said that the city does not currently have any plans to fund the program out of the Elyria general fund or 2016 half-percent income tax, but added that if the program is successful, it would consider seeking additional NOPEC funding and using next year's annual grant money to run the program again. Although the money has been accepted, Council still needs to approve the creation of the emergency repair program. Brubaker said that he had referred the matter to go before the Finance Committee next week, where it could be sent to Council for final approval on March 2. He said that if the program is approved, the city would start accepting applications shortly after and money would be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.