Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

American Samoa to help with energy costs for the poor

Posted at 03:27 on 04 November, 2009 UTC

The American Samoa Territorial Energy Office is using the more than 700,000 US dollars weatherisation grant from the US Department of Energy to help low income families reduce their energy costs.

It is now accepting applications for its Energy Weatherisation Assistance Programme.

The programme manager, Malelega Tuiolosega, says staff will carry out energy audits of households to determine which appliances or features need to be replaced.

She says, for instance, they will assess items such as old refrigerators, window air conditioning units, and showerheads and lightbulbs.

“And also if there is an electric water heater or gas water heater, we can replace those with a solar water heater. There is no deadline. This is an ongoing project or programme but right now we are using recovery funds. This is for three years but after that the weatherisation programme will continue on.”

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Malelega Tuiolosega