By Jes Wickham
Thanks to federal funding, qualifying New York State residents can now access up to $24,000 to make energy-related improvements in their home. Eligible improvements include insulation installation, electrical upgrades, heating upgrades, and more.
Getting these sorts of services done in your home can save you money on your energy bills and make your home more comfortable. The application is available online. Smart Energy Choices, the Regional Clean Energy Hub for the Southern Tier, can help you or a neighbor apply for this program. Community Energy Advisors (CEAs) are standing by to advise on solving energy challenges, with information on assistance programs, and walk residents through applications.
The $24,000 per household in energy assistance is available through the EmPower+ Program, which raised its previous cap per household. The assistance is applied to the cost of your project before you receive your out-of-pocket bill.
This year, funds were added to the existing EmPower+ Program as part of the first phase of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates Program (HEAR). Below is a breakdown of what that all means.
EmPower+ is a state energy efficiency program administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). It provides grants to cover a wide range of energy-efficiency improvements, including air sealing, insulation, replacement of inefficient appliances, and installation of new heating and cooling systems.
Prior to the addition of the Inflation Reduction Act’s HEAR funding, EmPower+ provided residents with a household income at or below 60% the state median income with up to $10,000 per project, and those with a household income between 60% and 80% state or area median income up to $5,000 per project. As an example, a two-person household in Tompkins County would need to make $47,640 or less a year in income to qualify for up to $10,000 per project, or between $47,641 and $79,550 to qualify for up to $5,000 per project. You can look up your income eligibility on NYSERDA’s website.
Additional funding has been made available through the EmPower+ program through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). For projects and measures that meet program guidelines, a home can receive up to $8,000 for heat pumps, $1,750 for heat pump water heaters, $4,000 for electric load centers, $2,500 for electric wiring, and $1,400 for insulation, air sealing, and ventilation, with a maximum possible IRA incentive of $14,000.
$5,000 is also available for well-engineered heat pump systems for homes that heat with oil, propane or other delivered fuels and do not have an existing heat pump.
Once your EmPower+ application is approved, you receive a free full-home energy assessment, where participating contractors come into your home to assess its various potential energy challenges. Contractors then draw up a work scope, or a plan of all the work they can do to improve your home’s energy efficiency. That work scope has a cost estimate, and if you receive EmPower+ assistance, the grant(s) are applied to this cost before you pay anything. If the work scope is less than the maximum award amount, then you generally won’t have to pay anything out of pocket. If your work scope is larger than the maximum award amount, you’ll pay the remaining cost out of pocket.
Here’s an example of how this all works: let’s say you live in a two-person household making below the “low-income” threshold. You apply, get an energy assessment done, and receive a work scope for various improvements that collectively total $15,000. With the new EmPower+ expanded services, you could receive up to $24,000 through EmPower+, this would mean you’d have no out-of-pocket costs for the project.
Please note that you may be asked to provide a customer contribution toward the project. The customer contribution can be paid out of pocket or through low-interest loan options provided through the state. Loan amounts are based on your energy cost savings from the work done.
New York owners of one- to four-family homes of all income levels are eligible for a free energy assessment. Right now, EmPower+ funding is targeted to residents 80% of the State/Area Median Income or below. You can conveniently apply for any of the above funding through the same application.
This represents significant savings for many families in need of major energy improvements. This is a rare opportunity for households, so Smart Energy Choices highly encourages those who are interested to apply soon.