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Success Story

Linda Hardesty, Bend

Program helps family afford new heat pump for manufactured home

For years, Bend resident Linda Hardesty had been frustrated with her electric furnace. It was so inefficient it sometimes cost her $600 a month to heat her and her husband’s 1,500 square-foot manufactured home. They often set the thermostat extra low to save money. “Our only income is Social Security,” she said, “so it was beyond our financial means to upgrade the heating system.”

When Hardesty learned about the special promotion Energy Trust offers to help owners of manufactured homes upgrade their heating, she couldn’t believe her luck. “Our new energy-efficient heat pump and thermostat cost $5,500, but Energy Trust paid $3,100 of the balance, leaving us with an amount we could manage.”

Taking advantage of the promotion was a breeze. “Bend Heating & Sheet Metal came out to give us an estimate. They did the installation, they programmed our thermostat, they even handled the paperwork. It was so easy,” said Hardesty. Randall Marchington, the contractor who installed the new heat pump, noted how “this offer makes a high-efficiency heating system financially reachable for more residents of manufactured homes. They tend to be older people living on very modest means.”

More than 600 owners of manufactured homes have reaped the benefits of this promotion, which offers special pricing and increased cash incentives for ducted or ductless heat pumps installed by participating trade allies.

According to Hardesty, “We are warmer and more comfortable now. And our electric bill shows our usage is half what it used to be!”