New Guidance from DOE Weakens Popular Home Energy Rebate Programs

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Department of Energy issued guidance that will create confusion, make it significantly harder for households to access funds to upgrade polluting or inefficient appliances, and disrupt programs already approved and underway in multiple states.

The new guidance prohibits households from using rebate funds to replace old, polluting fossil fuel-fired appliances, such as gas furnaces, with efficient electric alternatives like heat pumps. Instead, the rebates will only be allowed for electric-to-electric appliance changes. In addition to violating the law that established this program, this guidance directly undermines the program's purpose: switching from a gas furnace to an efficient heat pump is often one of the highest-impact, highest-savings upgrades a household can make.

Other changes to the guidance that will make these programs weaker include making ENERGY STAR optional in states and removing important oversight steps intended to protect consumers.

In response, Director of Sierra Club's Clean Heat campaign Srinidhi Sampath Kumar issued the following statement:

"The Trump administration couldn't eliminate the popular Home Energy Rebates program outright, so instead they're changing the rules mid-game in order to hand a win to the oil and gas industry. These changes will trap families into higher energy bills and force them to live with polluting equipment. Congress created these rebates to help households lower costs, reduce indoor air pollution, and improve home comfort and safety. Blocking folks from swapping an inefficient gas appliance for a cleaner, more affordable one will hurt low- and moderate-income families the most, the very people these programs were designed to help."

Additional Background:

Created by the Inflation Reduction Act, the programs included $8.8 billion dollars in grant funding to help American households save energy through upgrades to clean energy equipment, reduce harmful indoor and outdoor air pollution, lower energy bills, and create jobs.

Last year, Sierra Club highlighted the story of Gloria Daniels in South Carolina who cut her energy costs by upgrading to a heat pump and solar panels-made affordable through a grant from the Sustainability Institute and the Home Energy Rebate programs. After replacing her gas furnace with a heat pump, Ms. Daniels saw more than $200 in immediate savings on her next month's power bill. The changes to the guidance rebate programs will make those types of savings even harder to achieve for Americans across the country.

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About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.