Staffing Grant

For Existing and New Staff

Take advantage of the Staffing Grant offered through the Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program for monetary funds to help cover the costs of hiring labor assistance for your next energy efficiency project.

2023 Staffing Grant Overview

Need a hand in getting your energy efficiency projects off the ground but limited on staffing resources? The Staffing Grant offered from the Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program can help! The Staffing Grant provides your business with financial assistance to cover the costs of hiring an Energy Project Manager or Energy Specialist. Funds from the grant help to overcome the barrier of limited staffing resources when trying to complete upcoming energy efficiency projects, so you can focus company budgets toward your projects.

This grant is a competitive bidding process, with applications being reviewed as they are received. All applications for the Staffing Grant are due no later than Sept. 1, 2023.

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  • The Staffing Grant is intended to fund the cost of labor to help your company identify and develop energy efficiency projects at your business.
  • For energy efficiency projects that cannot be completed due to lack of staff resources, this competitive grant offers funding a Project Manager or Energy Specialist, ensuring the completion of energy efficiency projects at your business.
  • Preapproval is required at the start of the project. Once preapproved, additional base incentives are awarded based on quarterly performance.
  • Once preapproval is completed, minimal effort is needed from your company, but a performance check-in will be completed once per quarter.
  • No need to worry about additional savings calculations.
  • Projects will be evaluated on a three-month performance period.
  • At the conclusion of each three-month performance period, Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program staff will meet with your company to determine eligibility for future performance periods.
  • Each application selected for the Staffing Grant will receive a base incentive paid up-front to help with the initial costs of labor.
    • The base incentive is based off your company’s annual energy usage.
      • $5,000 for companies using less than 15,000 MWh.
      • $15,000 for companies using over 15,000 MWh.
  • Performance review incentive amounts are $0.03/kWh and $0.20/therm for eligible and approved projects.
  • Leak Survey and Repair, Metering & Monitoring and Strategic Energy Management (SEM) projects and savings cannot be combined with the Staffing Grant.
  • Midstream projects such as Midstream HVAC/HPWH, Instant Incentives Lighting, Midstream and Food Service can be included in the list of Staffing Grant projects eligible for funding. However, you must notify Ameren Illinois Energy Efficiency Program staff when the Midstream transaction occurs.
  • Staffing Grant funds will not be counted as part of any project or facility maximum incentive cap.

By switching to heat supplied through electricity, not only will you save every month on energy costs, but you also have the convenience and reliability of the Ameren Illinois electric delivery system.

Advantage of Switching From Propane to Electric:

• Affordable: Unlike propane and oil heating, electric heating costs remain stable over the years. Electricity is currently a cheaper option for heating and is predicted to remain so for many years.

• Safe and Reliable: With no burning materials, combustible gases or noxious fumes, electric heating is the safest possible heating solution for your home. Efficient electric appliances typically involve heat pumps or induction technology which have become increasingly more reliable versus early versions of those technologies.

• Convenient: The Ameren Illinois electric system is already connected to your home to deliver electricity in a reliable manner. You never need to worry about running low on fuel, scheduling tank refills or maintaining storage tanks.

Improve the heating and cooling efficiency of your home by switching from propane to electric heating options like an air source heat pump. Air source heat pumps offer highly efficient heating and cooling in one integrated system. In the summer, air source heat pumps are air conditioners that pump heat out of your home. In the winter, they reverse, becoming heaters that pump heat into your home.

Benefits of Air Source Heat Pumps:

• Reduced Heating Costs: An ENERGY STAR® certified air source heat pump provides heating for approximately one third the cost of traditional electric baseboard heating, depending on where you live, and approximately half the cost of oil or propane heat. An air source heat pump is so efficient that it can deliver up to three times more heat energy to a home than the electrical energy it consumes.

• Reduced Cooling Costs: During the summer months, a central air source heat pump automatically becomes a central air conditioner. With ENERGY STAR products, you’ll also have reduced cooling bills due to highly efficient operation.

• Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An air source heat pump is good for your home and good for the planet. On average, ENERGY STAR certified models avoid more than 4,500 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over the course of their lifespan compared to standard systems.

• Less Infrastructure: Air source heat pumps offer highly efficient heating and cooling in one integrated system.

Through the Home Efficiency Income Qualified (HEIQ) Initiative, eligible Ameren Illinois customers receive a FREE Home Energy Assessment to learn where your home is losing energy and discover ways to incorporate energy-efficient home improvements like LED lightbulbs, advanced power strips and heat pumps, all at no cost to you!

Benefits of a FREE Home Energy Assessment:

• Energy Usage: Understand how much energy your home is using and what appliances and products are using the most energy.

• Health and Safety: Uncover hidden problems that could be wasting energy and making your home unsafe, like poorly insulated walls and improper ventilation.

• Savings: Identify incentives to help determine budgeting for projects.

• Free Energy-Saving Products: During the Home Energy Assessment, receive FREE installation of energy-efficient products in your home. Propane appliances (furnaces, water heaters, stoves and clothes dryers) may be eligible for free replacement with electric appliances (heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, or heat pump clothes dryers).

FAQs

The Staffing Grant can be used for labor but not for existing projects. Projects that were previously pre-approved or have financial commitments are not eligible for the Staffing Grant.

Yes, but each Staffing Grant will be scored individually for approval and subsequent payments.

The Staffing Grant funds can be used for new or existing full- or part-time employee resources or for consultants, studies or energy audits. The company may share an employee or consultant between multiple facilities.

There are no hard deadlines for project completion. However, Staffing Grant applicants will receive higher scores for completed projects at the end of the performance period, making it more likely to receive funding for an additional period. With Program approval, resulting projects can extend past the Staffing Grant period.

Yes, applications will be reviewed and selected as they are received.

An explanation of how energy efficiency projects have not been implemented due to the lack of staffing resources and how the Staffing Grant funds could be essential to the completion of these projects.

Applications with any of the following factors emphasized will receive additional points:

  • Energy savings to an economically challenged community.
  • Increased levels of safety for a workforce or a community.
  • Promotion of diversity within the workplace or a community.
  • Helping locally-owned businesses within the Ameren Illinois territory.