D.C. is set to receive $59.4 million in rebates for energy efficiency upgrades and all-electric appliances through two Home Energy Rebate programs funded by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The Biden-Harris administration officially opened applications for states to submit their implementation plans last week. 

The funds can be put toward developing, implementing, and enhancing “residential energy efficiency and electrification programs in U.S. households, saving consumers up to $1 billion annually in energy costs,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Energy. 

The July 27 announcement arrived at the tail end of one of the warmest months on record, with temperatures in D.C. reaching triple digits this past Saturday, and sparking sudden, severe afternoon thunderstorms that left roughly 200,000 area residents without power. 

The Home Energy Rebate programs represent major strides in both climate and housing justice. In addition to providing homeowners and renters with more efficient means of enduring these recent extreme weather trends, the rebates stand to exponentially lower household energy bills through energy saving and electrification upgrades like home insulation, heat pump installation, or upgrading to electric Energy Star appliances, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm says in the DOE press release. 

Beyond Gas DC, a local coalition of community organizers, environmental, faith, and justice advocates, in a press release, notes that, “buildings make up more than 70 [percent] of greenhouse gas emissions in the District.” For residents to have access to these federal rebates to make home upgrades like exchanging appliances that rely on fossil fuels for their more efficient electric counterparts, is essential to D.C. meeting its climate goals, the coalition states.

Of course, the DOE’s announcement of open applications is only the first step to D.C. households receiving rebates. But the recently proposed Healthy Homes Act, introduced by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, could simplify the application process by functioning as a framework for the disbursement of the federal funds. 

André Greene, a pastor at the Varick Memorial AME Zion Church in Ward 7 and a member of the strategy team at the Washington Interfaith Network, spoke on behalf of the Beyond Gas DC coalition, which has come out in strong support of Allen’s legislation.

Greene tells City Paper the proposal creates an optimal implementation framework for the rebate disbursement that would prioritize low- and moderate-income homeowners. 

Allen’s legislation would work with IRA investments to “ensure most households earning less than $80,000 would be able to make the switch at no cost to them, including covering costs for both the new appliance and installation,” according to a release from Allen’s office. 

While the federal funding from IRA will cover the majority of the costs associated with electrifying a home, Mark Rodeffer, political chair at the Sierra Club’s D.C. chapter, explains in an email to City Paper that many D.C. residents cannot cover the remaining costs themselves. “That’s where the Healthy Homes Act comes in,” Rodeffer writes. “It will allow all DC residents to electrify their homes if they want to.”

The communities who stand to feel the brunt of climate change first, including public housing residents and low-income Black homeowners, must be the first in line to receive the federal rebates, Greene urges. Allen’s bill, he says, would accomplish this. 

DOE has made similar statements, asking states to prioritize the most vulnerable households, “including allocating at least half of the program funds to reach households with incomes at or below 80% of their area median income,” the department’s announcement reads. In doing so, Green says, in an email to City Paper, these rebates would act as a “tool to build Black wealth and bridge D.C.’s affordability gap.” 

In addition to the support of At-Large Councilmember and housing committee chair Robert White, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto, Ward 3 Councilmember Matthew Frumin, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, and Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker, and Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray, 80 D.C. residents testified in favor of Allen’s legislation at a May 9 public hearing. 

However, several other witnesses expressed their hesitancy and urged the Council to consider outstanding enforcement and funding challenges presented by the Healthy Homes Act.

In a statement at the hearing, the District’s Department of Energy and Environment emphasized its support of the bill and its commitment to working toward D.C.’s vision for a carbon-neutral future by 2045. At the same time, DOEE stated, “some of the goals and timeline set forth in the Healthy Homes and Residential Electrification Amendment Act of 2023 are unattainable.” For example, DOEE notes the rebate for heat pump installation in a low-income household is capped at $8,000. But, they write, “we expect that the average HVAC replacement would cost several thousand dollars more, and in some cases, could be as high as $25,000 per home,” a cost difference that, Rodeffer notes, the Healthy Homes Act would aim to cover.

In their statement, DOEE suggested several amendments, including turning the bill’s “requirements” into “targets,” and adjusting these targets “to reflect a ramp-up and a more evenly distributed annual rate of home retrofits. DOEE could propose a schedule that balances feasibility with aggressive action on greenhouse gas emissions reductions.” This would create a plan that “maximizes implementation flexibility.” 

The District’s Department of Buildings is also skeptical of the bill’s implementation plan. DOB noted in its statement that certain measures outlined in the Healthy Homes Act would first be considered by the independent Construction Codes Coordinating Board, a body which has demonstrated an arduous amendment approval process.

CCCB, Rodeffer says, “is not the most functional body, and has been struggling for nearly a year to enact a commercial building code that complies with DC’s climate commitments. The DC Council needs to show leadership on this important issue, not kick the can to someone else.”

Washington Gas and the American Gas Association also contributed statements to the public hearing, stating that a direct ban on natural gas—which the Healthy Homes Act does not enact—would strip D.C. residents of vital infrastructure to achieve emissions reduction goals. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers made a similar statement saying, “we do not support banning viable options for consumers, whether gas or electric.”

Greene says Beyond Gas DC is “calling on both the DC Council and District leaders to not only ensure the IRA funds are made available as quickly and as equitably as possible,” but to also pass the Healthy Homes Act “so that residents regardless of income can reap the health, economic, and environmental benefits of clean energy.” 

“This is go time,” Greene says.

This story has been updated with remarks from the Sierra Club’s Mark Rodeffer.