HARRISBURG, Pa. – Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor today released a performance audit of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development (DCED) and offered 3 findings and 20 recommendations to improve program oversight.
“Our auditors found improvements from the previous audit period; however, more needs to be done to ensure Pennsylvania citizens have the assistance they need to live in safe homes,” Auditor General DeFoor said. “The audit recommendations we’ve provided will help DCED reach more low-income Pennsylvanians who need support to repair their homes.”
The audit period was July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2023, and focused on determining whether DCED ensured that WAP local agencies properly managed their waiting lists; evaluated their monitoring procedures to ensure local agencies provided quality weatherization services and if they complied with the law; and assessed DCED’s efforts to maximize the impact of weatherization funds to allocate to local agencies.
While the findings from the previous audit were partially resolved, there were three findings from this audit period:
- DCED worked to improve the management of waiting lists; however, more improvements are needed.
- DCED failed to complete the minimum requirement of quality inspections of weatherized homes during the audit period.
- DCED returned $8.5 million of unused federal funds during the audit period.
WAP is a federally funded program that lowers energy costs for low-income households by increasing their energy efficiency in their homes using the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funds. Some of their services include installing duct and heating pipe installation, repairing cooling systems and pipes and preforming air sealing.
Read the audit to see our recommendations.
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Media Contact: April Hutcheson, Dept. of the Auditor General, 717-787-1381 or news@paauditor.gov