A rebate program meant to help New Hampshire residents buy new electric appliances or make their home more energy efficient is getting started slower than state officials anticipated.
The state is expected to receive about $70 million from the federal Inflation Reduction Act to provide rebates on appliances like electric heat pumps and stoves, as well as to make homes more energy efficient.
The rebates were initially expected to start this fall. But Josh Elliott, with the state’s Department of Energy, says the federal review process took longer than anticipated. Now, rebates will likely be available by late spring or summer 2025.
The programs are expected to offer rebates on a variety of appliances, including up to $8,000 for an electric heat pump and almost $1,800 for an electric water heater. Households can also get rebates for up to $20,000 on energy efficiency upgrades.
“There's a lot of factors that go into standing up these new programs that are really outside the control of the department, including how quickly a review process takes at USDOE,” he said. “It’s a new process for them as well.”
New Hampshire is ahead of most other states when it comes to setting up rebate programs. About $34 million has already been approved for appliance rebates, while $34 million for energy efficiency rebates is still going through the approval process.
Right now, state officials are working on securing an “implementer,” or a contractor to run the day to day operations of the electrification and appliance rebate program, while also waiting for the federal Department of Energy to sign off on their application for the efficiency rebate program.
But some states, including Maine, New York and Rhode Island, already have rebates available for residents.
Elliot says that is in part due to how states are handling the programs differently. He said New Hampshire is taking a “broader” approach, opening up rebates for a wider range of appliances and services, and serving a larger swath of residents.
How could the election change available funding?
The outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election could affect the rollout of the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest piece of climate legislation in American history, which includes the rebate programs for households. But Elliott said state officials are moving forward assuming the programs will be able to start regardless of who ends up in the Oval Office.
Donald Trump pledged last month to rescind unspent money from the Inflation Reduction Act if elected. But there are limits on what a future administration could do to redirect or withhold funds, a September report from Columbia Law School said.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes a variety of programs, including tax programs that the authors say are “less vulnerable to unilateral reversal.” For spending programs, like the grants that would fund rebates in New Hampshire, a second Trump administration could seek to pull back funds that have already been awarded, but that would be difficult and could be challenged in court, the authors say.
The Inflation Reduction Act caps reallocation of funds at 10% for each program. The authors of the Columbia report say withholding unspent money entirely would require congressional approval, or it could be challenged in court. Trump was found to have violated the law requiring that congressional approval during his first term, and the former president has said he would try to challenge or overturn it.
Elliott said it’s difficult to predict what political support there would be for halting funding for rebate programs.
“I will say, I think given the discourse around a lot of these programs, most folks seem to be okay with programs that directly benefit residential customers,” he said.
State officials, Elliot said, are “pretty confident” that no matter the outcome of the election, the rebate programs will still be able to run.
