Sec. 8. Home Energy Savings Retrofit Rebate Program
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/bill/116/hr/2043/ih/section-8A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
If a qualified home energy efficiency retrofit of a home is carried out after the date of enactment of this Act by a qualified contractor in accordance with this Act, subject to appropriations made available for such purpose, rebates shall be awarded for retrofits that achieve home energy savings in accordance with this Act. Subject to subsection (e), the amount of a rebate provided to the owner of a home or a designee of the owner under this section shall be determined in accordance with the following formula:
Retrofits that are projected to save at least 20 percent of energy use (Home Performance Retrofits) shall receive a rebate of $2,500. Retrofits that are projected to save at least 40 percent of energy use (Deep Home Performance Retrofits) shall receive a rebate of $5,000. The rebate shall be paid, based on energy savings as calculated under subsection (e), within 60 days after— submission of the required rebate forms; and the completion of any quality assurance assessment required under subparagraph (B).
The Secretary shall establish a schedule of required quality assurance assessments. In the first year of the Program, the first 10 homes retrofit by each contractor and then 60 percent of all future homes shall be required to have a quality assurance assessment. The Secretary shall establish a cost effective schedule of required quality assurance assessments for subsequent years based on performance under the Program. Recipients of grants under section 9 and rebate aggregators are encouraged to present a proposal to the Secretary for an incentive bonus for contractors who have delivered services to consumers and who have achieved a 70 percent or greater realization rate for predicted gross energy cost savings achieved by their portfolio of participating customers.
Bonus incentives under such a proposal may be up to 20 percent of the rebate paid to the homeowner. In no event shall the amount of rebates under this subsection exceed— $10,000 with respect to any individual; or 50 percent of the qualified home energy efficiency expenditures paid or incurred by the homeowner under subsection (c). For purposes of this section, the term qualified home energy efficiency expenditures — means any amount paid or incurred by a homeowner for a qualified home energy efficiency retrofit, including the cost of diagnostic procedures, labor, reporting, and modeling; and does not include— improvements to swimming pools or hot tubs; or any amount paid or incurred to purchase or install a biomass, wood, or wood pellet furnace, boiler, or stove, unless the system— is designed to meet at least 70 percent of the heating demands of the home; in the case of woodstoves, is certified by the Environmental Protection Agency; in the case of a wood stove replacement, replaces an existing wood stove with a stove that is certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, if a voucher is provided by the installer or other responsible party certifying that the old stove has been removed and made inoperable; in the case of a furnace or boiler, is in a home with a distribution system (such as piping, ducts, vents, blowers, or affixed fans) that allows heat from the furnace or boiler to reach all or most parts of the home; and is certified by an independent test laboratory approved by the Secretary as having— thermal efficiency (with a high heating value) of at least 75 percent for stoves and 80 percent for furnaces and boilers; particulate emissions of less than 3.0 grams per hour for wood stoves or pellet stoves; and less than 0.07 lbs per million BTU for outdoor boilers and furnaces.
A qualified home energy efficiency retrofit is a retrofit that implements measures, during a rebate-eligible year in the existing principal residence of the homeowner which is located in the United States, intended to reduce the energy use of such residence. A qualified home energy efficiency retrofit shall— be implemented and installed by a qualified contractor; install a set of measures modeled to achieve a reduction in home energy use of 20 percent or more from the baseline established under subparagraph (C), using computer modeling software approved under paragraph (2); establish the baseline energy use as provided in subsection (e)(1)(C); implement a test-out procedure, following guidelines of the applicable accrediting program established by an organization identified in section 4(a)(2) or equivalent guidelines approved by the Secretary for this purpose, to ensure— the safe operation of all systems post retrofit; and that, except as provided in paragraph (3), all improvements are included in, and have been installed according to— standards of the applicable accrediting program established by an organization identified in section 4(a)(2); manufacturers installation specifications; and all applicable State and local codes or equivalent standards approved by the Secretary for this purpose; include only measures that have an average estimated life of 5 years or more as determined by the Secretary; not include funds paid or incurred in connection with any expansion of the square footage of the residence; and not include improvements to swimming pools or hot tubs or any other expenditure specifically excluded by the Secretary.
The contractor shall use modeling software certified by RESNET as following the software verification test suites in section 4.2.1 of RESNET Publication No. 13–001, or under equivalent standards approved by the Secretary for this purpose, and shall have the ability at a minimum to assess the savings associated with all the measures for Home Energy Savings Retrofit Rebate Program. For purposes of paragraph (1)(D)(ii), installation of gas-fired appliances shall comply with requirements of the National Fuel Gas Code (ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54) and applicable installation requirements in lieu of performance of combustion tests outside those required by the National Fuel Gas Code (2012 Edition) and the International Fuel Gas Code (2012 Edition).
The reduction in energy use for any residence shall be determined by modeling the annual predicted percentage reduction in total energy consumption or costs for heating, cooling, hot water, and permanent lighting. It shall be modeled using computer modeling software approved under subsection (d)(2) and calibrated according to subparagraph
(C)of this paragraph. For the purposes of subparagraph (A), the energy cost per unit of fuel for each fuel type shall be determined by dividing the total actual energy bill (subtracting taxes and fees) for the residence for that fuel type for the most recent available 12-month period by the total energy units of that fuel type used over the same period. For the purposes of subparagraph (A), the software model that establishes the baseline energy use and predicted energy savings shall be calibrated according to the procedures set forth in sections 3 and 4 of ANSI/BPI Standard BPI–2400–S–2012: Standard Practice for Standardized Qualification of Whole-House Energy Savings Predictions by Calibration to Energy Use History, or an equivalent standard approved by the Secretary for this purpose. The percent improvement in energy consumption calculated under this section shall be documented through modeling software described in subsection (d)(2). The Secretary— shall periodically evaluate the software packages used for determining rebates under this section; shall monitor and compare the predictions to the real energy data, and based on the results, create performance criteria to allow or disallow the software; and may disallow the use of software programs that improperly assess energy savings. The Secretary shall establish a system for distribution of a certificate of performance in accordance with BPI–2101–S–2013: Standard Requirements for a Certificate of Completion for Residential Energy Efficiency Upgrades with the issuance of a rebate that certifies the predicted level of energy use reduction achieved by the retrofit. The certificate shall be provided to the rebate recipient. If the recipient is the contractor under the terms of section 7, the contractor shall remit the certificate to the homeowner, to be delivered or postmarked not later than 30 days after the contractor’s receipt of the certificate. The Secretary shall not utilize the authority provided under this Act to— develop, adopt, or implement a public labeling system that rates and compares the energy performance of one home with another; or require the public disclosure of an energy performance evaluation or rating developed for any specific home. Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude the computation, collection, or use, by the Secretary, rebate aggregators, or quality assurance providers, or the States or Indian tribes, for the purposes of gathering information on the rating and comparison of the energy performance of homes with and without energy efficiency retrofits. On submission of a claim for a retrofit rebate by a rebate aggregator, the Secretary shall provide reimbursement to the rebate aggregator, if— the retrofit is a qualified home energy efficiency retrofit; the amount of the reimbursement is not more than the amount described in subsection (b); documentation required to verify the claim is transmitted with the claim; and any quality assurance assessment required by the Secretary or the rebate aggregator has been completed. On making payment for a submission under this section, the Secretary shall review rebate requests to determine whether Program requirements were met in all respects. On a determination of the Secretary under paragraph
(1)that a payment was made incorrectly to a party, not later than 3 years after the payment was provided the Secretary shall— recoup the amount of the incorrect payment; or withhold the amount of the incorrect payment from the next payment made to the party pursuant to a subsequent request. The amount of incentives that the Secretary may provide to quality assurance providers and rebate aggregators under this Act shall be— $50 for each rebate review and submission provided under the Program; $250 for each field inspection conducted under the Program; or such other amounts as the Secretary considers necessary to carry out the quality assurance provisions of this Act.