Two years ago this week, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the most important climate law full of subsidies for clean energy – including a spectacular8.8 Billions in residential energy rebates to help hundreds of thousands of households decarbonise their homes.
But the discounts, which can amount to up to $14,000 per eligible household and used for upgrades from heat pumps to insulation, are not yet available to the majority of Americans. The rebate money is distributed at the state level, and most states are still waiting to DOE Most of them have not yet received approval for their programming – or have not even applied for their share of the climate law funding.
So far, only New York and Wisconsin have officially begun offering energy rebates to their citizens. While the exact timelines for the rollout of other state programs are still unclear, they are taking shape.
Fifty of 56 States and territories have signaled to the agency that they intend to set up rebate programs. 23 of them have actually submitted an application – for a total of3.1 Billions in funding – to set up discount initiatives. And DOE has approved applications for 10 In addition to New York and Wisconsin, these states include Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Washington.
Six states – where Republicans control the governorship and both houses of the legislature – have not complied with the DOE for administrative funds to process rebate program applications: Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.
The discounts come in two variants: the discounts for the electrification of private households and the discounts for household appliances (HEAR) program offers hundreds of dollars in rebates on home appliances and electrical upgrades for low- and moderate-income households; and the Home Efficiency Rebates (HOUSESalso known as HER) program saves thousands of dollars in the cost of retrofits that significantly reduce residential energy use. State energy departments have the ability to refine eligibility requirements beyond what the law itself provides.
Creating new programs — or expanding existing ones, as some states are doing — takes time, says Amanda Sachs, policy associate at the electrification nonprofit Rewiring America. Even deciding which rebate program to prioritize is a hurdle.
The DOEwas also ““Learn the ropes” to guide states with very different housing stocks, climates and ideas on how to distribute the rebates fairly, Sachs said.
To establish the Home Energy Rebates program, which includes both HEAR And HOUSESThe agency had to build a team, develop program requirements and instructions, implement consumer protection measures, and much more. The agency “has been fully committed to discounts since 2000 IRA and has not let up since,” said one DOE Speaker. “Our goal from the beginning was to help states get rebates to consumers as quickly as possible while maintaining best-in-class programs.”
After deployment, the DOE It is estimated that the residential energy rebates will save consumers up to $1 billion dollars annually in energy costs and support an estimated 50,000 U.S. jobs in construction, manufacturing and other sectors. They will also help clean up buildings, one of the biggest sources of carbon pollution in the country.
This is how the first two programs in the USA are developing.
Ready, set, rebate start! New York’s electrification rebates
In May, New York was the first state in the U.S. to introduce a rebate program—and the state chose to expand an existing program rather than create an entirely new one.
With an initial $39.6 Millions of $158 Millions for his HEAR The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has increased funding for its EmPower+ program for low-income families. Under the program, households with incomes up to 80 Percent of the region’s median income (AMI) may apply to a limited subset of the potential HEAR Incentives for improvements such as air sealing, insulation and ventilation ($1,600); electrical wiring ($2,500); Electrical Services Updates ($4,000); Water heater with heat pump ($1,750); and heat pumps ($8,000).
