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Program Announcement

REA Program Sunset and Final Submission Dates

Program/s: Residential Energy Assessment Program
To: REA Contractors
Summary: REA Program Sunset and Final Submission Dates
Contact with Questions:  homeaudits@nyserda.ny.gov

As mentioned during the April 2025 Residential Program Update Meeting, NYSERDA will be launching a Virtual Energy Assessment Program in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will be replacing the Residential Energy Assessment (REA) program. The final day to submit an REA enrollment in NYHEP will be Thurs. Dec. 18, 2025.    

We encourage all REA contractors to familiarize themselves with the Comfort Home Program as it will serve as the primary market rate program for assessments and incentives.​ By Q4 of 2025 all or most market rate audits should be completed through Comfort Home.  Please refer to this link  for information on becoming a participating Comfort Home Contractor.  

Contractors should review their websites and other marketing material over the next few months to either remove the REA program or replace it with information related to Comfort Home, if applicable.  

All Comfort Home and EmPower+ audits completed through NYHEP will comply with GJGNY requirements and provide the necessary data needed for GJGNY loan applications.​  

The REA NYHEP portal will remain open for participating contractors to access their existing customer information.  In addition, the portal will also remain open if contractors need access to the Loan Proforma report for loan only projects.  A user guide for market rate loan use cases will be available in a future Program Announcement. 

For additional information about the Virtual Energy Assessment Program or the sunset of the REA program, please email homeaudits@nyserda.ny.gov.  

For additional information about the Comfort Home Program, please email support.residential@nyserda.ny.gov.​  

All EmPower+ work must be in accordance with all Program and local regulations

Program/s: EmPower+
To: All Participating Contractors and Subcontractors
Summary: All EmPower+ work must be in accordance with all Program and local regulations
Contact: If there are any questions, please call Contractor Support at 800-284-9069.

As a reminder, Participating Contractors and any Subcontractor retained by a Participating Contractor must perform work in compliance with all applicable codes, regulations, laws, and standards in the jurisdiction where the work is being completed. In instances where Program guidance may conflict with state and/or local code, code must take precedent. This includes obtaining permits when required and obtaining the required licenses to work in each jurisdiction.

Sections from the Participation Agreement :

3.3 Licensing – It is the sole responsibility of the Participating Contractor and its Subcontractors to obtain and maintain any required federal, state, county, or municipal government licenses required for installing measures and to not perform work for which they are not licensed, if licensing is required. The Participating Contractor shall produce evidence of current licensing upon request by NYSERDA or its Implementation Contractors. Failure to comply with licensing requirements may result in disciplinary action.  

3.4 Permits – It is the sole responsibility of the Participating Contractor and its Subcontractors to obtain and comply with the terms of any required permits for installing measures or conducting Energy Assessments prior to the start of work. The Participating Contractor shall produce evidence of applicable permits upon request by NYSERDA or an Implementation Contractor. Failure to comply with permitting requirements may result in disciplinary action or termination from the Program(s).  

Any contractors found not following these requirements will face disciplinary actions including probation, suspension or termination from the program.

For any questions, please reach out to Contractor Support at 800-284-9069.

BPI Training

Program/s: EmPower+, Comfort Home
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors
Summary: BPI Training
Contact: Steve Levey at slevy@bpi.org or by phone at 518-899-2727 x103.

In recent conversations with Participating Contractors, it has been reported that contractors are having a difficult time finding local Building Performance Institute (BPI) training classes. If Participating Contractors are in need assistance with locating a BPI Test Center near them for training or testing, they are welcome to reach out to Steve Levy at BPI. Steve can provide support and guidance by directly reaching out to our network to find a solution.

Steve can be reached via email at slevy@bpi.org or by phone at 518-899-2727 x103.

The Energy Affordability Guarantee Pilot

Program/s: EmPower+
To: Participating Contractors, Clean Energy Hubs and Stakeholders
Summary: The Energy Affordability Guarantee Pilot
Contact with Questions: Please reach out to Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069 with any questions

The Energy Affordability Guarantee (EAG) is a Pilot being run by The New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) that will provide homes that have been or will be electrified through the EmPower+ Program with a utility bill subsidy to ensure the homes energy burden is not greater than 6%.​

The goal for the Pilot is to serve at least 100 EmPower+ Tier 1 (Low-Income) households in each of the utility areas. Based on current program production, additional projects are needed in the following areas:

  • Central Hudson
  • Consolidated Edison
  • Orange and Rockland
  • Rochester Gas and Electric

Homes that have had projects completed on or after May 1, 2023, will be eligible. ​

Pilot Guidelines

  • Only homes in the following electric territories will be eligible: Central Hudson, Consolidated Edison, Orange and Rockland, and Rochester Gas and Electric.  Households with Municipal Electric are not eligible.
  • This pilot is only available to Tier 1 / low-income customers.​
  • Homes that are served by all fuel sources including natural gas will be eligible. ​
  • The maximum allowable ACH50 for homes will be increased to 10.​
  • The home’s existing heating systems must be removed, and the heat pump should be sized to cover the full heating load. The water heating system must either be a HPWH or electrical resistance if the electrical resistance heater was already present.​
  • Projects participating in the pilot will have priority at provisional approval.​
  • Contractor may return to a home that has a heat pump installed to install a HPWH, to qualify for the pilot.​
  • Homes will have energy monitors installed on the electrical panel boxes.​

Pilot Process for New EmPower+ Projects

  1. A Pilot application will be available on the contractor support site. This application must be filled out and submitted to Matt Houle matthew.houle@nyserda.ny.gov. Matt will review the application to ensure it meets program requirements and notify the contractor that they can proceed to submit the work scope. ​
  2. CLEAResult will identify the project in NYHEP as eligible for the pilot.​
  3. The work scope will be submitted per the normal EmPower+ Program processes and given priority at provisional approval.​
  4. After the project is complete, NYSERDA will provide the data for the project to the Implementation Contractor at DPS so they can contact and enroll the customer.​
  5. NYSERDA will be hiring a contractor to supervise the installation of energy monitors. ​
  6. NYSERDA will provide a tracker on the contractor support site indicating how many projects will be eligible in each utility territory.​
  7. The information from this pilot will be used to determine future utility bill subsidies and the viability of a gas to heat pump conversions in certain markets. ​
  8. The goal of the pilot is to have the remaining projects completed by December 31, 2025. 

The EAG Pilot was covered on the July 11, 2025, Home Modernization Monthly Contractor Call. If there are any questions, please reach out to Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069.

Pending Program Changes

Programs: EmPower+
To: Participating Contractors; Clean Energy Hubs
Summary: Pending Program Changes
Questions: If there are any questions, please contact Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069

To maintain program continuity and ensure equitable access to incentives, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is, implementing the following changes to the EmPower+ program. The changes are designed to provide greater certainty for contractors and customers by managing the flow of projects in alignment with available budgets while prioritizing customer needs.

NYSERDA will be reviewing changes in more detail during the July 11, 2025, Contractor Check-in Webinar.

The changes will be effective for work scope submissions beginning August 1, 2025.

Moving forward, we will have a robust stakeholder process on how to create a sustainable program for the future, while adapting EmPower+ to the new Energy Efficiency/Building Electrification (EE/BE) Order from the New York State Public Service Commission.

Changes to the EmPower+ Program

  1. Furnaces and Boilers

EmPower+ will no longer provide program incentives for the following fossil-fuel heating equipment and relatedmeasures:

  • Boilers and Furnaces
  • Clean and Tunes
  • Heating System Repairs

NYSERDA is exploring options to offer a limited budget for No-Heat replacements which occur during the heating season (October 1-April 30) and will provide additional information in a future announcement. Participating Contractors with fossil-fuel heating measures have until August 1, 2025, to submit these projects to the Program.

2. Project Level Caps

Effective for work scope submissions beginning August 1, 2025, EmPower+ program funding caps will be enforced per the table below. There will be no exceptions for exceeding the EmPower+ funding caps (Tertiary approvals will no longer be available).

The Program expects contractors to use the least cost insulation that is appropriate to the application to help keep total project costs and customer co-pays as low as reasonably possible.

In the event the household needs work that exceeds the EmPower + Program funding caps above, potential options to address the funding gap are provided below:

  1. Leverage low-interest financing through Green Jobs Green New York
  2. Consult the local Clean Energy Hub for additional funding opportunities in your area.
  3. Encourage the household to apply to the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) for project coordination with EmPower+
  4. Reapply to EmPower+ after the Program look-back date has passed. Currently, there is a one year look back for a household to reapply after their funding cap has been met.

3. Applications

To manage the volume of incoming EmPower+ applications within the available budget, Participating Contractors will not be permitted to submit applications on behalf of customers from August 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025. This includes submissions via the Salesforce portal, MyEnergy, or mail. Customers may still select a Participating Contractor as part of the application process, and CLEAResult will assign the customer to the selected contractor accordingly.

We will reassess the application submission process based on feedback gathered through upcoming stakeholder engagement sessions.

As indicated above, NYSERDA Program staff will be covering these changes and encourage Participating Contractors and Clean Energy Hubs to participate on the July 11, 2025, Contractor Webinar.