Federal grants of up to $400,000 for multi-family building owners and up to $4,000 for individual homeowners to improve energy efficiency could be coming as soon as 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy announced last week.
N.J. is set to receive more than $183 million of the $9 billion that was allocated for this purpose in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The money is intended to be used for installation of energy efficient equipment, including electric appliances and heat pumps that will lower energy costs. The federal government said the country could save up to $1 billion annually.
Here’s the timeline:
From November through January, the DOE will hold a series of listening sessions to engage a wide array of stakeholders, including direct engagement with states, labor, industry and others consumer rebate programs.
Following the listening sessions, DOE will issue a Request for Information for public input in
early 2023.
The DOE said it anticipates that the funding to states will be available by Spring 2023, and the rebates will be available to the public later in the year.
States will implement two programs:
The home energy performance-based, whole house rebates (HOME Rebates) program:
· Rebates for energy efficiency retrofits range from $2,000-$4,000 for individual households and up to $400,000 for multifamily buildings;
· Grants to states to provide rebates for home retrofits (up to $2,000 for retrofits reducing energy use by 20 percent or more, and up to $4,000 for retrofits saving 35% or more.
The high-efficiency electric home rebate program:
· Develop a high efficiency electric home rebate program with $225 million allocated for Tribes.
· Includes point of sale rebates, administered by states.
· Includes means testing and will provide 50% of the cost for incomes 80 to 150% of area median income, and 100% of the cost for incomes 80% of area medium income and below and similar tiers for multifamily buildings.
· Includes a $14,000 cap per household, with a $8,000 cap for heat pump costs, $1,750 for a heat pump water heater, and $4,000 for panel/service upgrade.
· Other eligible rebates include electric stoves and clothes dryers, and insulation/air sealing measures.
Congressman Frank Pallone (D, 6th District) applauded the announcement.
“This announcement is a win-win for consumers as we work to lower costs for families and transition to clean energy,” he said. “This funding will help families across New Jersey upgrade appliances in their homes that will not only save them money on their energy bills, but also reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
“I’m glad to see federal dollars help families in New Jersey lower costs.”
At $183,147,420 million, New Jersey received the 12th-highest allotment of funding, following Texas ($690M), California ($582M), Florida ($346M), New York ($318M), Illinois ($264M), Pennsylvania ($259M), Ohio ($249M) Georgia ($219M), Louisiana ($213M), North Carolina ($209M) and Virginia ($189M).
