The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated Maine $72 million to fund energy upgrades on residential buildings, including $36 million to fund a heat pump rebate program.
It’s part of a broader, $8.8 billion federal investment in home efficiency rebates and was announced at an event in South Portland on Wednesday by Gov. Janet Mills and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The program will be funded through the Inflation Reduction Act and administered through Efficiency Maine, according to the governor’s office. Funds will be available beginning this month, with low-income households prioritized.
The hope is that the heat pump program will support electrification measures, including installing heat pumps in Maine homes, that are intended to reduce air pollution and cut energy bills for homeowners who are already staring down mounting costs.
“Maine is one of the most heating oil dependent states in the country, 56 percent of our homes are heated with oil, and it’s hugely expensive,” Mills said. “[Heat pumps] are not just efficient in helping us save the planet, they’re saving people money.”
Maine has one of the oldest housing stocks in the nation; nearly a fifth of all homes were built before 1939. That makes efforts to heat homes more efficiently and affordably, through converting to cheaper sources of energy as well as weatherizing and insulating homes, crucial, Mills said.
The investment has been made all the more necessary by the recent culling of federal funding to another program, the Home Energy Assistance Program, that gives eligible Mainers help with heating costs.
For the second year in a row, the Maine state housing authority expects to be unable to provide aid to all qualified applicants because federal funding for the program has decreased from $6 billion to $4 billion since the pandemic. Maine receives 1 percent of that funding.
Dan Brennan, MaineHousing’s executive director, said that he’s pushing Maine’s congressional delegation to increase federal funding for that program so it’s back to pandemic levels. Most homeowners receive aid in the $500 to $700 range, Brennan said, but that number was more than $1,000 just a few years ago.
“We’re hoping for the same, if not more, money for [the Home Energy Assistance Program] because people do rely on that for not just oil or propane but for wood, to buy fuel for their homes,” Mills said. “We’re also focusing on weatherization, insulation. Let’s tighten up these homes whether they’re 200 years old or 2 years old. Make them more efficient and cost less.”
