MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Linda White says she’s been bundling up to keep warm in her Barton Heights home.
“At night when you`re in there, you can feel that cold hitting your face you go up under the cover,” White said.
White being without gas, and therefore heat, seems odd though, considering the problems stem from work being done through a weatherization program.
White said of the program, “Very excited and was looking forward to it and now this has happened.”
White is one of 125 homeowners that received energy efficiency upgrades throughout the past year, through the Home Energy Improvement Project.
Its weatherization program run by the Tennessee Valley Authority in partnership with MLGW and a company called CLEAResult.
According to TVA, contractors completed several upgrades to White’s home including attic insulation, HVAC work and an electrical circuit upgrade.
“So far they’ve put a furnace up in my attic, what I still can`t use because the gas, it’s something wrong with the way they put the gas in, code enforcement won’t pass the gas.”
So, White says she’s been in the cold for roughly two weeks.
“And now, I`m sitting up here 62 years old with stage 4 lung cancer with no heat in my house, none!”
White says she’s reached out to MLGW, TVA, even the contractor to get to the bottom of the issue.
WREG asked, “What has anyone said to you?”
White replied, “That it’s the other person`s fault … everybody passing the hammer onto the next person.”
WREG got a similar response when reaching out to TVA, John Anderson Service Company (the Georgia based contractor) and County Code Enforcement.
A TVA spokesperson, Scott Brooks, sent the following details to WREG via email.
“On October 25, 2017 the city codes inspection was failed due to a broken gas valve. The re-inspection was scheduled for December 4, 2017. The inspection was failed again because Ms. White had an additional appliance hooked up to the gas line and the inspector could not pass the pressure test on the line. All existing known issues have been addressed and another inspection has been set for December 21, 2017. ”
A manager at the contractor’s office in Georgia, also said Code Enforcement told them to go back out to the house on Dec. 21 for another inspection.
WREG spoke to Allen Medlock of Shelby County Construction Code Enforcement.
Medlock said they were actually waiting to hear back from the contractor before setting another date.
In the midst of all of the back and forth, White just wants the work done.
“I think it`s wrong for people to send out letters and say they gone do something and then don`t do it.”
White who has Christmas decorations and was wearing a Santa hat during our interview says she refuses to let the problems steal her joy.
“I will survive, but I want this house fixed.”
In addition to all the problems on the inside of the house, there’s also a large hole in White’s front yard with MLGW signage sitting on top.
White says workers dug the hole during some of the work. MLGW didn’t clarify Monday, what the work was for and why workers left the hole.
**UPDATE** (5:30 p.m.)
After WREG got involved, TVA says White was given a generator and space heaters to keep her warm. Brooks says they’re also reaching out to Code Enforcement to see if the inspection date can be moved up.
