Regular replacement of furnace filters is one way to heat a home more efficiently.<\/p>\n
This winter has seen more people seeking assistance with home heating as energy costs continue to climb. <\/p>\n
The Dollar Energy Fund was founded in Western Pennsylvania and provides grants to those experiencing hardship. Jody Robertson, the director of communications for the nonprofit, said requests have steadily increased over the years, but last year even more so.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing definitely a more significant increase than normal,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
The program runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. In 2025, Robertson said the organization helped 20,000 Pennsylvania households compared to 15,000 the year prior.<\/p>\n
From October to December, 250 Washington County homes received grants, a jump from 77 during the same time frame in 2024. In Fayette County, the number jumped from 50 to 200. The Dollar Energy Fund does not typically assist as many Greene County homes, but has given out 29 grants this year compared to four in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve provided grants to over 6,000 households already. We\u2019re on track to maintain the higher grant amount, if not exceed that,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
The National Energy Assistance Directors\u2019 Association, which represents state governments in securing federal funding, published a report last month that states heating costs are expected to rise 9.2% this winter.<\/p>\n
According to NEADA, on average households will spend $995 this year to heat their homes, an increase of $84 over 2024.<\/p>\n
Robertson says Dollar Energy Fund does not ask grant recipients about their specific situation. She could only speculate as to why there was such a sharp increase in grants this year, but did note that due to the government shutdown, money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) was delayed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be a contributing factor,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
Christine Bell, the director of the Salvation Army in Uniontown, said the LIHEAP delay \u201cdefinitely\u201d affected how many people were reaching out to their organization for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe increase in cost of energy, absolutely. We\u2019ve also seen the LIHEAP delay in funding. That definitely had an effect on things,\u201d Bell said. <\/p>\n
Bell could not provide exact figures, but said the increase in assistance requests was significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was definitely three or four times as many as we saw last year,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n
The Salvation Army provides help through both Dollar Energy Fund grants and its own funds.<\/p>\n
Tips to lower costs<\/p>\n
For those concerned about rising costs, HVAC specialists point to a number of things you can do to make sure your home is heated efficiently.<\/p>\n
Greg Roberts, owner of Pro Comfort Heating and Cooling in Waynesburg, said there is one part of the furnace commonly overlooked by customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell everyone, the cheapest maintenance on a furnace is a filter. That\u2019s something a lot of people overlook,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
According to Roberts, if your furnace\u2019s filter is not regularly replaced, \u201cyour furnace is going to run much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts suggests when buying a filter, buy them in bulk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little pricey to start. Instead of going out and buying one filter \u2026 go out and buy six or a dozen. Have that box of filters sitting there. If it\u2019s on site, you\u2019re thinking about it,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
Brady Benedetti, vice president of Controlled Climate Systems in Canonsburg, says though it can be costly, it is important to make sure your furnace receives routine maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get routine maintenance done, you can get small things before they become big things,\u201d Benedetti said.<\/p>\n
Phil Piggott is a consultant for Heirloom Mechanical, which has a location in Mt. Pleasant and provides services in Fayette County. Piggott says there are several do-it-yourself projects you can take on around the house for efficient heating.<\/p>\n
Those include checking around the windows, doors and attic for any spaces that could use caulking, weather stripping or spray foam to keep out cold air.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to look and seal up any air leaks you\u2019ve got. Especially in older homes that were built prior to the building codes that are now in place,\u201d Piggott said.<\/p>\n
Piggott also suggests being \u201creally smart and deliberate\u201d about setting the temperature on the thermostat.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can save a lot of money by lowering the temperature when you\u2019re away or when you\u2019re sleeping,\u201d he said, cautioning not to set it so low that your pipes freeze.<\/p>\n
Though much more expensive upfront, these specialists agree that upgrading an old or outdated furnace is going to save money in the long term.<\/p>\n
Roberts said he was at a customer\u2019s home recently with a furnace that was 60 years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuddy, this thing is running at like 10% efficiency,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
According to Roberts, heat pump units are a \u201cnight and day difference\u201d compared to even just 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the heat pumps we install, we\u2019re showing a 40% decrease in energy costs,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Regular replacement of furnace filters is one way to heat a home more efficiently. This winter has seen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4997,2298,32816,12913,3140,17463,9142,83,73,75,74,6482,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-83796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-fayette-county","10":"tag-furnace","11":"tag-grants","12":"tag-greene-county","13":"tag-heating","14":"tag-liheap","15":"tag-money","16":"tag-pittsburgh","17":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","18":"tag-pittsburgh-news","19":"tag-utilities","20":"tag-washington-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}