INFORMATION: Management Alert on the Department's Monitoring of the Weatherization Assistance Program in the State of Illinois

关键词: AUDITS;    ENERGY EFFICIENCY;    EXPENDITURES;    FURNACES;    INCOME;    MANAGEMENT;    MONITORING;    OCCUPANTS;    SAFETY;    STATE OFFICIALS;    TESTING;    WEATHERIZATION;    WINDOWS;   

DOI  :  10.2172/969798
RP-ID  :  OAS-RA-10-02
PID  :  OSTI ID: 969798
Others  :  TRN: US201002%%1177

学科分类：能源（综合）

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), the Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program received $5 billion to improve the energy efficiency of homes owned or occupied by low income persons, reduce their total residential expenditures, and improve their health and safety. Since the Recovery Act was enacted in February 2009, the Department has awarded weatherization grants to every state, the District of Columbia and five territories. Because of the unprecedented level of funding and the risks associated with spending vast amounts of money in a relatively short period of time, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiated a series of audits designed to evaluate the Program's internal control structures at both the Federal and state levels. As part of our work, we are in the process of reviewing Weatherization Program internal controls for the State of Illinois. We are also currently performing identical audits in the States of North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Under the Recovery Act and the Department's Program, the State of Illinois received $242 million to weatherize 26,933 homes. The State of Illinois awarded these funds to 35 local agencies responsible for determining recipients' eligibility, contracting for the installation of the weatherization work, and conducting final inspections to ensure that work on homes was done in accordance with requirements. Inspectors working for the local agencies are required to evaluate the quality of mechanical and architectural improvements, such as furnace installations and window caulking, and certify that the work performed meets established standards. Under a Department approved plan in place at the time of our review, state officials were required to evaluate the sufficiency of local agency monitoring controls and to inspect the work performed on at least five percent of the units weatherized with Department funds during the program year for each local agency. We identified significant internal control deficiencies in the management of the Weatherization Program in Illinois which require immediate attention. Specifically, our audit testing revealed significant problems with on-site monitoring and inspection of the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program (Illinois). We noted that the Department had not fulfilled its requirement to perform monitoring visits at the State level. In addition, Illinois officials had not complied with the Department's requirements for inspecting weatherization work conducted by local agencies. Finally, we found that a weatherization inspection for one of the local agencies failed to detect substandard installation of energy saving materials. This case involved a furnace gas leak that could have resulted in serious injury to the occupants and material damage to the structure. This is an interim report and our audit work remains in progress.