Draft of Energy Retrofit Legislation Released
Senate committee hearings scheduled next week for the Home Star Act of 2010
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has unveiled language for proposed legislation authorizing the HOME STAR energy retrofit program, which would allocate $6 billion in federal funds to provide short-term consumer incentives for residential energy improvements. The legislation was designed to stimulate job creation in the construction and manufacturing sectors by giving millions of American homeowners access to substantial rebates for cost-effective efficiency upgrades.
As expected, the language calls for a combination of:
- Prescriptive rebates for eligible efficiency upgrades (the SILVER STAR path)
- Performance-based rebates for whole-home retrofits designed to achieve energy savings of 20 percent or more (the GOLD STAR path)
- Quality assurance and fraud-prevention provisions
- Funding for state and local energy retrofit financing programs to help homeowners pay their share of the upfront costs
The SILVER STAR path would provide rebates up to $3,000 or 50 percent of project costs (whichever is less), with potentially higher rebate amounts available for GOLD STAR projects.
Now that the so-called “discussion draft” has been released, the Senate can move forward with hearings about the proposed legislation – a process that is due to begin next week.
Supporters of the bill are encouraged to contact their Congressional representatives in the House and Senate to press for passage of the legislation. Efficiency First provides a quick and easy way to voice your support at www.efficiencyfirst.org/home-star.
Download the discussion draft and short summary of the bill here:
Copyright © 2009 Efficiency First ·
Powered by
The bill as written only allocates $1,683,000 “to provide rebates and incentives authorized under the Gold Star home energy retrofit program” (See page 52, line 15). This probably is supposed to be $1,683,000,000.
Less than 2 million dollars isn’t going to go very far.
Hopefully congress acts fast on this. If they don’t homeowners will adapt a wait and see attitude, waiting to see if the bill passes and not spending money until it passes or fails.
When you follow the link,the discussion draft is damaged and you can’t download
Maybe you should try again Dave — it’s working fine when I try it. The direct link to the discussion draft PDF is http://energy.senate.gov/public/_files/END10173.pdf
It is very important that we all let our voices be heard. I applaud all the folks at Efficiency First who have and continue to work tirelessly on this and encourage all of us to follow thru by contacting our representatives in Congress.
On page 39, line 15, the draft bill says that Section 25C credit is reduced by Home Star rebate amounts, which makes sense. But what about the other way around, particularly for Home Star improvements made in 2011, after the Section 25C credits have ended (2010 is the last year currently authorized for Section 25C tax credits).
In particular, let’s say a homeowner receives a $1500 tax credit under 25C in 2009 for an HVAC changeout. Then in 2011, that same homeowner, same home, wants to do some other energy improvements under Gold Star. Would the eligible rebate under Gold Star be reduced by the 2009 Section 25C tax credit? I suspect this was the intent, but the Act doesn’t say that, and you obviously can’t reduce a tax credit that was taken in a previous tax year!
Note: If a 25C tax credit is taken in 2010, even if the work pre-dates the Home Star Act, it seems clear that the wording of the Home Star Act would reduce or eliminate the Section 25C credit if Home Star improvements were also conducted in 2010.
That was a technical error… it is Billion not Million. Now corrected.
I agree with David. The 25C reference needs to be clarified. Even the IRS would have difficult interpreting the current language for incorporation into the tax code. I understand the deisre to limit the perceived double-dipping possibility; but for significant investments like a ground source heat pump, the gold star path should still provide releif.
I just listened to the House Energy Committee hearings from March 18. DOE Assistant Secretary Cathy Zoi responded to a question about how the department would prevent homeowners from taking a Section 25C deduction AND a Home Star credit. She said they (presumably the DOE) will provide records to the IRS, and that it would be considered tax fraud to take both.
Hmm… This requires some thought. She seems to be implying that someone who took a Section 25C last year, I cannot take advantage of Gold Star’s higher incentive levels? And what about folks who took a 25C credit in 2008?
At a minimum, the instant rebate form will need to include a question asking the customer if they took a 25C rebate in a previous tax year, and have them sign off that they won’t take one in current or future years.
Hopefully the final draft will include words that would *reduce* the HS rebate by a past 25C deduction rather than preclude a rebate, and will be clear as to how far back that would apply.
The latest committee text, set for markup tomorrow, has an additional reference to the Section 25C tax credit at Sect 5(f)(1)(A). But the ambiguity of the interaction with 25C remains.
I now believe the intent was to prevent two incentives to be provided for the same work. If so, then a taxpayer took a 25C credit in a prior year (or even 2010) should be eligible for a Home Star rebate as long as it’s not for the same product or work. However, the language at Sect 9(a)(2) (“shall reduce any credit allowed under 25C”) suggests that the concern may have been with overall incentive limits for a given home or taxpayer, rather than double dipping pe se.