A new state-run program in North Carolina is attempting to help low-income families save money on utility bills.
Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Energy Saver North Carolina program includes two separate rebates that will help pay for families' energy efficiency upgrades and weatherization.
These rebates are the Homeowners Managing Efficiency Savings, which will cover home efficiency improvements such as air sealing or energy-efficient HVAC units, and the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates, which concern larger updates for electrical appliances like water heaters and stoves.
All of this comes at a critical time for North Carolina and the American Southeast as a whole, which has been increasingly feeling the brunt of the warming climate in recent years. Bouts of extreme heat have become more common in the region, and 2024's Hurricane Helene cost North Carolina billions in damage, so instituting programs to help families deal with the knock-on effects of such catastrophes is now of vital importance.
"By investing in electrification and energy efficiency, we're helping to lower the carbon emissions while making homes more resilient to extreme weather," said Helen Hossley, a special projects manager with the Department for Environmental Quality. "We're also creating lower household energy demand to reduce the overall strain on the electrical grid and to make homes more resilient."
Though the Inflation Reduction Act is currently funding the Energy Saver program, that may not be the case for long. Through new legislation like the Big Beautiful Bill, the Trump administration is set to eliminate several tax credits and subsidies for eco-friendly domestic changes, such as 30% back in the form of a tax credit on the cost of installing solar panels. EnergySage can help to claim that benefit before it expires.
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But considering how high the stakes are for North Carolinians these days, if their government funding for this program gets canceled, it seems more likely than not that local and state officials will fight vigorously to find other financial backing and continue to provide their low-income constituents with low-cost, energy-efficient home upgrades.
"Many families in Buncombe County struggle with high utility bills because of their outdated or inefficient home systems." Hossley stated. "And so, when we saw the devastation that Hurricane Helene caused in Buncombe County, and so many of the other Western counties, we knew that we wanted to prioritize it for the program's rollout."
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