Columbus Light and Water paved the way Thursday for another set of homeowners to receive home improvements and reduce utility costs.
The CLW board agreed Thursday to participate in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Home Uplift program for Fiscal Year 2026. The program addresses a handful of homes each year and provides improvements ranging from HVAC repairs to insulation improvements to help lower utility bills and reduce home maintenance costs, said David Sparks, TVA senior sales consultant for Mississippi.
“It’s a way for people who have limited income to get some needed home improvements at no charge,” Sparks told The Dispatch. “And that does a couple of things. It obviously helps them save money on the power bill, right? … Makes the home more efficient. It also makes the home more comfortable because now you’ve got a home where you don’t have the issues that you had before.”
Each year local residents apply for the program through Prairie Opportunity Inc. or through the TVA’s website and are selected based on need and income level, Sparks said. In order to qualify for the program, an applicant has to own a home, have an account with CLW and have a certain income.
TVA, after performing inspections on each selected house, selects recipients typically around the beginning of the year and performs the improvements throughout the year, Sparks said.
The improvements come at no cost to the homeowners, CLW General Manager Angela Verdell said.
In 2025, the program helped five homes in the area, she said. Since signing on to the program in 2019, the program has been able to help between 40 and 50 homes in the Columbus area, Sparks said.
The goal is to improve about five or six homes again this year, which has been around the average for the program in Columbus the last few years, Sparks said.
Verdell said the program has shifted slightly over the years from doing minor fixes for a large number of applicants to more involved fixes for fewer homes.
“I think the reason is because they’re doing a more holistic approach to the homes,” Verdell said. “… So if they were just doing windows, they would have more families that they can impact. But the intent is to make sure that family is well positioned when it comes to being energy efficient.”
The program is equally split between TVA and CLW each year through matched funds, Verdell said. This year, CLW will match $25,351 for a total amount of $50,702 to benefit selected applicants.
Sparks said another benefit of the program comes from applicants not only seeing lower utility bills but also getting an uptick on the value of their homes.
“It’s really about education,” Sparks said. “It’s really about letting people know what resources there are and how they can take advantage of those.
“The hope for TVA is, number one, it makes life better for people, but number two, it helps us keep rates low,” he added. “… If we can help people to save money, help people to manage their energy bill more effectively, then they have more money to spend on things they want to spend it on. … That makes good business sense.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
