Federal stimulus funds available for rebates on energy improvements

Homes and businesses that are upgraded to be more energy efficient may qualify for partial funding of those projects through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds.

The funding will be set up as rebates for completing energy improvements to buildings. Homeowners will be eligible for a 20 percent rebate on the cost of a projects, with a cap of $2,000. Commercial property owners will also be eligible for a 20 percent rebate, but with a cap of $4,000. The funds are being administered through the state’s Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.

There will also be rebates of up to $250 for having a mandatory energy audit done before any residential project begins. The results of that audit — and the estimated energy the improvements will save — must be submitted with an application for the rebates.

At an OPEC Not! meeting Tuesday night at the Regional Center for Advanced Technology and Training, the group discovered that the launch of the program is being made difficult by the fact that there are not many approved energy raters — people certified to do an energy audit — available to do the required audits.

“I believe there are only two here in our area,” Diane Arnold, director of the Longwood University Small Business Development Center and founder of OPEC Not!, said. “The people at DMME haven’t had much time to set this up, but they are trying to come up with some training programs for raters.”

But if there aren’t raters available to do audits when the program launches in August, some people could miss out on getting the rebates.

“They are going to be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis,” Arnold said, noting that anyone who can line up an approved energy audit will be the first to get their applications in — and likely be the first approved to get the rebates.

The energy audit is necessary not only at the beginning of the program, but at the end as well. Once the project is completed, the auditor returns and makes sure the installation went as expected and will save the amount of energy expected. That report must also be submitted for the rebate to be awarded.

Arnold said she has already been talking to contractors about the program, and the need to have more people certified as energy raters.

“We need to find out what kind of credentials they have to have,” Arnold said, adding that contractors could benefit from getting the training and adding that feature to their list of services. She also said she hopes Danville Community College can set up a local training class in the near future.

Arnold said the use of energy auditors on residential upgrades will reduce the homeowners’ likelihood of being scammed.

“Too many people get sold things they don’t need,” she said.

The state wants auditors involved because they can determine where a home’s biggest areas of energy loss are and give homeowners options for improving it. With the information in hand, Arnold said, the homeowner is better able to decide what upgrades will give them “the most bang for their buck” — and help them determine just what they can afford to do.

Arnold said applications for the rebates will be posted online this month at http://www.stimulus.virginia.gov and http://www.mme.state.va.us, and recommends home and business owners interested in the program check those sites throughout the month so their applications can be submitted as soon as possible.

Virginia will be getting $70 million for state energy projects; $15 million of that will be used for the home/business energy upgrade rebate program over three years.

The residential rebate program will have $1 million available the first of August, with $3 million becoming available in each of the next two years.

Similarly, the commercial rebate program will start with $1 million available, but with $3.5 million becoming available in the next two years.