The Nest Podcast
The official podcast of the Jefferson R-VII School District.
The Nest Podcast
Ameren Resources to Support Communities and Families
Discover how over $47 million in energy assistance can transform the lives of families in need, as Page Selby from Ameren joins me, David Haug, for a compelling conversation on the powerful impact of support programs like LIHEAP and Dollar More. You'll learn the ins and outs of accessing these resources, and how a mere half-hour a month could unravel opportunities for financial relief, including services that extend way beyond energy bills. Page and I navigate the digital landscape of aid while shedding light on the critical role school counselors play in connecting families to these lifelines.
Get ready to be inspired by tales of energy-saving triumphs in local schools, where even sixth graders become heroes in our fight for efficiency. Our discussion ventures into the realm of the myEnergy Manager tool, a household game-changer that makes cutting down on consumption both fun and educational. We also reflect on the profound, wallet-friendly benefits of home upgrades that don't just lighten the monthly load but also contribute to the greater good of our community. Join us as we celebrate the partnerships that bring these initiatives into the classroom, leaving a lasting imprint on our next generation of energy-conscious citizens.
Hey, I'm David Haug, Superintendent at Jefferson R-7 School District, and I have the pleasure of being joined by Page Selby from Ameren today. Thank you for joining us.
Page Selby:Thank you so much for having me.
David Haug:Correct me if I'm wrong. Customer advocacy is what we're talking about, as well as energy assistance. Yes, and you mentioned earlier, you connect with 800 industry, like 800 groups.
Page Selby:Yes, yeah, we have over 800 agencies that we work with to help administer or provide energy assistance. So if anybody out there is struggling to pay your bill or you just need some help to get through, you know, a short-term problem or a short-term crisis, then there is so much assistance available.
David Haug:I think that's as we've kind of worked together to look at all the options, and I think that's really what this is about is connecting our families and anybody else watching this, connecting them to Ameren. It's not just Ameren, they've connected to other resources as well. If we could talk about some quick takeaways before we get deeper into this, go ahead and talk about what it is that you're here for today.
Page Selby:Sure. Well, last year we did over $47 million in energy assistance. That's almost 150,000 customers that got help with their bill. So if anybody out there is struggling, then that's my message is that there is help available. So if you're in crisis and your bill is past due, there are lots of programs. So there is the state program, liheap. It's actually federally funded but it's administered through local agencies. Jefferson Franklin Community Action Agency is an excellent partner with us with that program. Also, we have our Dollar More program and then. So Dollar More is something that's funded by customer donations folks that can add an extra dollar to their bill due and then we take that fund and help people that are struggling. We also have flexible payment arrangements. So if you know you just need a little bit of help this month, but I know I can pay in a couple of weeks, we work with people on that as well. And then, once you get out of crisis, then we also have programs to help you avoid getting back into crisis.
David Haug:Sure, we're going to talk about that in more detail. Real quick, though, as we begin this the best way to connect. No longer do you have to walk up in person. There's a lot of online application for this.
Page Selby:Yes.
David Haug:Save you time, streamlining that. We'll be providing that as part of this to you to connect in, so that'll be a part of this as well. But also in our district specifically, one thing you can do and we've been working with Ameren Ameren has met with not only myself through this department, but our intervention specialist. You can always contact him if you have any questions and he can help connect the resources. You can do that email, phone call. If you see him out, mr Rothweiler, before or after school, you can contact him, and I recommend, if you're outside of the Jefferson R-7 community, if you want to contact your counselor, they can get in contact with us to help you out.
David Haug:I think there's some great opportunity here for a lot of families that we're going to talk about. Kind of the topics we're going to talk about today, though, are the connections that you have that are just beyond Ameren to help with assistance, sort of the general things you can be doing in your home to save, but then also for families in need or eligible families, there's some interesting programs you offer. So we're going to segue here. We kind of got the summary out front. We're going to slow this down, start talking about what's actually in front there that we've got. So you're talking about right now in our economy. You're talking about inflation Times are hard for families. We see that in our business and education. That's why we have the intervention specialist. That always started as a mental health for us to connect there.
David Haug:But what we found through the creation of that position years ago is there's actually a lot of resources out there for people, but to ask a family to go one by one is difficult. So I see this as sort of an extension of what we've done is to connect those together, and so it may not just be Ameren, it may be other things, but that's really what we're here to is to help families and it goes from top to bottom and we'll talk about that here. But I'm going to start with the education piece. Okay, families are busy. There are things you can do in your home. We all know this, and you kind of gave an example already of a family that kind of had the kids take care of it from education piece. So you want to kind of explain that and I'll ask questions as we go.
Page Selby:Yeah, absolutely so, and we talked earlier too about you know we're all getting to the point where we need to learn more about energy We've never really thought about when we flip on the light switch, the meter starts and it costs me a quarter or whatever it costs. So we need to all start doing that now, and in order to do that, we've created a tool called my Energy Manager and everybody has access to it. If you have an Ameren account, you just go in and create a login so that you can access that information, and there's a dashboard out there that is specific and personalized to you and it shows you how you use energy in your home, where your energy dollars are being spent, whether or not it's doing laundry, it's cooking, it's things that are always plugged in and it's fun with families to make it a game plugged in, and it's fun with families to make it a game. So have your kids look at those and say, hey, how can we? How many things do we have plugged in? You know that's one of our biggest areas of where we're spending our energy dollars. So I mean, it's fun to make that a game with kids and let them see the difference.
Page Selby:One of the one of-workers. When she started at Ameren about a year ago, had never really looked at her energy usage, got the bill every month and just paid it because that's what Ameren said I used. But when she started looking at the my Energy Manager tool she realized, hey, I can impact this, or I can affect this because it shows you if you continue to use energy the way you have, then here's what your bill will be at the end of the month. Well, if you look at that, 10 days in, you still have quite a bit of time to make a difference. So she did that with her kids and really made them responsible for going around and making sure lights were turned off and things were unplugged, and they saved 30% on their bill over the course of a year.
David Haug:That's a big percent. Yeah, it is so my thought is is from an education standpoint is if that tool I don't know how far back it would go and track your data, but that's really what I know in sitting down with another department of yours looking at historical data and moving forward. That's really a nice little education project in your home.
Page Selby:Yes.
David Haug:Say there's something physically you're doing, and then the parents aren't having to just take a time a month every time the bill comes in to say are we trending in a good direction? Right, Because really that does have application as far as like data analysis, as simple as it sounds, and then also to see the real impact and maybe the kids get a reward if there's certain savings Right.
Page Selby:That'd be good Absolutely. And you know by the time you get the bill you've already used it. So this tool gives you the opportunity to look throughout the month. Start as soon as you get the bill and say here's a fresh start. We can make a change every month and if you didn't make it this month, we can start over again for the following month.
David Haug:And he saved us a penny earned.
Page Selby:That's right. That was somewhere along the way in our great history.
David Haug:We could all use that Is that Ben Franklin I think it was Ben Franklin, I don't know, I think it was had a lot of good ones. So let's talk about the amount of agencies that you do connect with.
Page Selby:800 is a big number it is and it's throughout our entire service territory. So, like I said, in the local area, Jefferson, Franklin has just been a great partner for us. They're aware of all the programs that we offer. So there's two places. I always recommend people start and that's go to our website, the amerenmissouri. com/ energy assistance, and I know you're going to share that later. But we've really tried to make sure that we put everything out there so that it's easy to understand.
Page Selby:It's easy to find if there's an application. It's easy to find. Do I qualify? And many of these programs do have qualifications. Some of them are how many people live in your household and what is the household income.
Page Selby:For example, the state program LIHEAP, which is the energy assistance program, you know, if you, if a family of four, can make up to $4,875 a month and there are several things that you can deduct within that. But if you know at that income, then you qualify for LIHEAP. When you qualify for LIHEAP you get energy assistance one time between December and May, the end of May so you have until May 31st to apply for that. So if you haven't yet, hop online and there's an online application and it goes directly to the state of Missouri. Then if you get in a crisis situation and you've already received LIHEAP, then there's also an opportunity to get winter help and summer help. So that's helpful.
Page Selby:If you qualify for LIHEAP, you also qualify for some other programs the Dollar More program that I mentioned. So if you need a little extra help later on down the year, you qualify for our Keeping Current program, which is an Ameren program that I think everybody should be taking advantage of if they meet those qualifications and a family of four can make up to $5,200 a month and qualify for Keeping Current, and it provides a credit. If you're an all-electric house, it's either going to be $60 or $90. If you have gas all-electric house, it's either going to be $60 or $90. If you have gas heat in your home, then it's going to be either $35 or $40. But I give the example of we enroll everybody in budget billing, which gives you it takes your energy usage for the last year, splits it up over 12 months and that's how much you pay.
David Haug:Yeah, I know some families take advantage of that so. I think if I'm sitting at home listening to this. I think the general theme is this If you have any doubts, contact.
Page Selby:Yes.
David Haug:Because, again, it may not be just Ameren they're able to connect you with, and I'm not going to go into any other names, but I know some of your service areas have natural gas. Yep, you have connections to the natural gas provider not just in our district but in other regions that you cover within the Ameren district. I think the big thing is just reaching out and just seeing if you're eligible, yes, and then going from there and she kind of gave some price points there. You kind of know where you are as a family, and I think the other thing is the process itself. You don't have to go stand in a line, you can do this in home, and a lot of this just takes a little bit of time to do.
David Haug:It does and as a former teacher. I'm dating myself, but in St Louis they used to show the Simpsons every night from 6 to 6.30. My kids used to watch it. This was in the early 2000s, late 90s and I used to say, if you gave up one episode and only watched one Simpsons episode, what could you do with that extra 30 minutes? I think if you approach things like that, could you do something one 30 minute per month to take and see what's here or other resources. The great thing about this and I want to stress this, it's not just the Ameren connection. The idea is to connect, just like with our intervention specialists, is to connect our families to resources in times of mental health, dental. But then you start looking at this other program we're starting to look at partnering with. It's just the time to do it and if you're not sure, ask.
Page Selby:Yes.
David Haug:And you can do it privately anymore email. We're here to help, so I think anybody that needs additional assistance right now, even if it's short-term, needs to check this out.
Page Selby:Yes.
David Haug:And I'll go back to the other one, the data point of you know you can make it a family thing and see how much and use it as an education thing. And again, that concept of taking an extra 30 minutes a month to do this.
Page Selby:Well, worth it. And with the Keeping Current program, if your budget billing is $100 a month and you get a $90 credit, that means you're going to pay $10 a month. You're still using $100, but the program funds supplement that and you only pay $10.
David Haug:And I want to touch on that for just a second because you have a program that connects people to all kinds of resources and stuff, even through the government and all these different programs, but Ameren itself actually has designated funds.
Page Selby:Yes.
David Haug:And it's a pretty substantial amount as we discussed, and those funds don't go used every year. That's right and that bothers you.
Page Selby:It really does. Yeah, I mean we're trying to find how do we reach these folks and get them to take advantage of it. I mean there are lots of people taking advantage of it. Like I said, we did $47 million in energy assistance last year but there was still several million left on the table and that just. Oh, I hate that because I know there are people out there that could benefit from it and you know, maybe you say, well, I pay my energy bill every month, but if you had some help with that energy bill, could you free up those dollars? What else could you be paying for? It's kind of twofold.
David Haug:If you're becoming more efficient and you're teaching your kids some educational things so they can have better practices, that's a win. But, then in those times of need, if you have that going along with this other program, you could see some actual, some real benefits and then, like you said, that money's freed up to do other things for your family.
Page Selby:Exactly.
David Haug:I think that's the common theme. I've been fortunate. I've been able to work with different parts of the Ameren group in different areas and this has been one of the most fascinating in the sense that all the outreach and programs that are offered to try to help each individual family. It really is just making that connection and asking Also events that you guys show up to. We are going to look to work with our staff to see when that might be best and it wouldn't be just Ameren, it would be collaborating with other events that we have, but kind of explain how that might work.
Page Selby:Yeah, we love to get out and do some outreach and we will come and do one-on-one assistance and we bring our partners with us too. One-on-one assistance, and we bring our partners with us too. So we right now are scheduling events with Spire and food pantries and Missouri American Water and the local community action agencies and we will come out so that you can take advantage of all of those resources in one place, because it really is all about bundling this.
Page Selby:If you're struggling in one area, you're probably struggling in several areas and there's help available so that you can reduce your stress, get that help that is available for you. And if you don't need help, then there are still lots of opportunities. Like we talked about earlier with my energy manager Is everybody signed up for alerts? If you don't have the Ameren app on your phone and you're not getting an alert every time your power's out I mean sign up for that We'll send you an alert and say, hey, we know your power's out and here's why and here's when it's going to be back on.
Page Selby:So I mean in this age of information, there's so much information available that you could be taking advantage of.
David Haug:And I think that's another great point and sometimes in this business I feel like there's almost too much information. It's difficult to sift through it. But if you start breaking down what you're paying monthly and just approach it from that and understand the resources here and I know I've said this several times it's not just the Ameren connection that I've been impressed with, it's the overall connection to other resources as well, whether it's things you're doing in your own home or connecting to resources. It's there, it's available, you don't have to do it. But I think it's great to start getting that messaging out and I think for Jefferson R-7 and our school district it is part of the bigger package just to help our families in general and make you aware of things. Is there anything you want to close with?
Page Selby:You know. I'll just say there's always, in addition to energy assistance, there's always energy efficiency, which is something that we can all practice. So try to stay energy neutral. Replace your air filters. Make sure you do that seasonally. Your ceiling fans should be going counterclockwise. I always have to look at my note here to make sure I've got them going the right way at the right time. Plant some trees.
David Haug:So that kind of clockwise thing all year round, because I do it when the heat's no yes. In the winter.
Page Selby:As the weather warms up, ceiling fan rotating counterclockwise that pushes the cooler air down to the floor.
David Haug:Okay, I have that correct and I do it the other way in the winter.
Page Selby:Okay, exactly, I wanted to make sure I wasn't messing that up. I didn't pay attention.
David Haug:I will say this before we leave, two things. We have sent this out to our community. I know my notes are on it. We sent you a letter already with some of the resources. You do have monthly webinars.
Page Selby:Yes, we do.
David Haug:And we will continue to share those when we get those updated. But also, too, I know our kids here in sixth grade because I still have some of the things we used to get these energy kits.
Page Selby:Yep.
David Haug:And I know that the kids would come in and do the data and stuff like that. I still have some of those things, like the shower heads on one of my showers still, and we had it on some of the faucets and did different things and there was a thing whistling through our, I guess, when the filter got dirty. So I know our kids have been doing that and that's always been a great project and I know people are like what is all this?
Page Selby:Light bulbs that were in it. We put those to use. Oh yes, if you don't have, if you haven't replaced all your LEDs, 10% off your bill right there. Yeah, that's a big deal. Huge savings, yeah, with LED bulbs.
David Haug:I guess the point is we've had this connection in the past. We're trying to make it deeper and richer and all those good things. So thank you for joining us today.
Page Selby:Thank you so much for the opportunity to help us get the word out.
David Haug:Yeah, don't hesitate to reach out to your counselor. We'll get you to Mr Rothweiler. We'll get you to Ameren just to explore what.