The Vice President and the Middle Class Task Force Council on Environmental Quality have issued a report on “Recovery Through Retrofit” which issued a broad vision statement on how to drive the Green Economy and create jobs through the use of home energy efficiency retrofits. The Adminsitration will be directing federal agencies to create and carry out the details of this plan. The committe is currently soliciting public feedback, and this is your chance to help direct how our tax dollars are spent, and what these programs will look like.
BelRed has been at the forefront of many of these retrofits for years, and we continue to add products and services for our customers. In general, we’re excited by, and supportive of, the broad ideas outlined in this 14-page report. However, we all know that the devil is in the details, and there are few specifics in this plan. We are encouraged by the consumer education and affordability tools that are discussed. We are wary, however of the national training and licensing requirements the plan addresses.
BelRed requires that all of its team members be fully licensed and certified as required by state and local law. We even pay for, or provide, all of the training required for this. Beyond this, we require that all of our technicians receive NATE certification once they are eligible. While this helps ensure the quality of our work, and our customers satisfaction, we are often at a price disadvantage when competing against companies that do not require this as they have fewer costs for doing business. We agree that there needs to be more stringent, and consistent, training and education requirements for technicians to level this playing field. We hope, however, that the government will recognize that there are business out there, like us, who have been doing things right for years, and that they will provide some means of proving core competencies that will not place additional roadblocks in the paths of businesses who are currently licensed and well trained. The last thing we need is another hurdle in these difficult economic times.
Read the full report and send your feedback to the committee using the link below.
