Oakland SAVES Grant Program
Oakland Saves StoryMap
Energy efficiency supports all three pillars of sustainability—environmental, social, and economic—by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering energy costs, and creating local jobs. In celebration of Earth Day, Oakland County is showcasing the impact of its 2024 energy efficiency program, Oakland SAVES, which provided upgrades that benefitted both the environment and the community through a brand-new StoryMap.
Oakland County partnered with Michigan Saves to upgrade nearly 1,100 households, improving comfort, resilience, and reducing utility bills, while also generating over $7.7 million in local contracting work. The StoryMap features participant testimonials, a map of completed projects, and an analysis of its environmental, social, and economic impacts.
Visit the new Oakland Saves StoryMap
Application Closed
The response to the Oakland SAVES program was phenomenal with more than 1,100 households receiving approval for the money saving, energy efficiency upgrade grants in less than a week. Tier 1 and Tier 2 grant incentive funds have been fully committed to previous applicants. The application is no longer available.
THERE ARE STILL OPTIONS
- Michigan Saves has a residential financing program that provides low-interest loans to homeowners for eligible energy-efficiency projects.
- Oakland County’s Neighborhood and Housing Development department has a home improvement program that provides interest-free low loans for needed house repairs.
- OLHSA has a weatherization assistance program that is a free energy conservation service for low-income households to reduce energy usage and utility bills.
- DTE Energy Efficiency Assistance
- Consumers Helping Neighbors Program
- Oakland County is actively seeking partners to help extend and expand the Oakland Saves initiative.
Oakland County partnered with Michigan Saves, the nation’s first nonprofit green bank, to invest $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to provide qualified residents with an Oakland SAVES grant. These grants were used for energy efficient upgrades to homes, producing savings in energy consumption and utility bills and improving our residents’ health, safety and comfort.
“Helping our residents upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes will not only enable them to save money on their utility bills but will also be beneficial for the environment. Less energy usage means a reduction in carbon emissions and that translates into a cleaner, more sustainable environment for all of us.”
Dave Coulter, County Executive
Any qualified resident in Oakland County applied for a grant in one of two tiers:
- Income-qualified households received up to $5,000 from a pot of $4 million to help pay for projects.
- Other residents applied to have 20% of a sustainable home improvement project covered by a grant, capping out at $3,000 each from a pot of $1 million.
Eligible improvements included: the installation of insulation, energy-efficient doors and windows, weatherstripping, and heating, ventilation, water heater and air conditioning improvements.
For more ways to improve your energy efficiency and reduce both costs and climate impact at home, check out the resources on our Sustainability at Home page.
News & Updates
Oakland SAVES
Oakland SAVES proved to be a spectacular success with the $5 million in funding exhausted within one week of the program’s announcement and nearly 1,100 households receiving the energy efficiency grants.
For Bonnie Collum of Waterford and LaToya Hopkins of Pontiac, the Oakland SAVES initiative—funded with $5 million in ARPA dollars—brought each of them an unexpected energy-efficient upgrade to their homes.
Bonnie was dealing with a 60-year-old furnace that was on its last legs, but she couldn’t afford to buy a modern one because the need for a new roof stretched her fixed income to its limits. So, she kept her heat hovering at a chilly 50 degrees during the winter, hoping to get another year or two out of her aging furnace.
When she heard about Oakland SAVES in January, she was one of the first to apply and get approved for a grant, which allowed her to get a new furnace. By early March, her house was nice and toasty again and her heating bills saw an immediate decline.
For LaToya, a home audit by the Oakland County Housing and Neighborhood Development department to identify the cause of a leaky basement, led to the discovery of another problem. A sliding glass door and window in her kitchen was causing extreme heat in the summer and frigid breezes in the winter.
The replacement was on the list of must- dos for the Hopkins, but likely not for a few years. The housing department let the Hopkins know about the Oakland SAVES program and suggested that replacement windows could qualify for a $5,000 grant.
By mid-June, the new energy-efficient, double-paned sliding glass door and kitchen window were installed and the family began to enjoy cooking again without broiling in the summer and freezing in the winter.
“This program is amazing,” LaToya said. “A job this big is not at the top of the list. We maybe would have gotten to it in the next three to five years.”