EmPower+

To: Contractors and Stakeholders
Regarding Programs: EmPower+
Summary: Updated EmPower+ Pricing and EmPower+/Comfort Home Fuel Rates
Contact: Please reach out to Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069 with any questions

EmPower+ measure pricing and fuel rates for EmPower+ and Comfort Home have been updated and are effective as of March 7, 2025.

EmPower+ pricing was reviewed and updated to reflect changes to several variables including national inflation and consumer price index (CPI) data, and market price research.  The updated list can be found in Section 5.5 of the Program Manual on the Contractor Support site.

Fuel rates for 2025 for EmPower+ and Comfort Home have been updated and posted on the Contractor Support website in Section 5.12 of the EmPower+  Program Manual.

The fuel rates and EmPower pricing have been updated in the NY Home Energy Portal (NYHEP) currently and will be effective for any new project entered in NYHEP beginning March 7, 2025. NYSERDA finance has also updated their Proforma tool to reflect the updated fuel pricing.

For Program fuel rates, natural gas and electricity rates are based on the Joint Utilities 2022-2024 SC1 3-year average. Delivered fuels are based upon the NYSERDA New York Home Pricing Monitoring Program 2022-2024 averages. For cost-effectiveness calculations, NYSERDA uses volumetric charges including supply (commodity), transmission and distribution, and other charges applied based on the supply volume.

If there are any questions, please reach out to Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069.

Program: EmPower+
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors
Summary: Important Program Updates
Contact with Questions: Contract support at (800) 284 – 9069 or email at [email protected]

Please see the following program updates. These were covered in more detail on the March 7, 2025, Contractor Check-in webinar, which can be reviewed in its entirely here: Webinars – Contractor Support.

Provisional Approvals

To maintain overall program continuity and equitable access to incentives, NYSERDA is implementing a new EmPower+ project management and approval process. The new approach will give NYSERDA the capability to manage the flow of projects in alignment with customer need and regional production goals. 

A contractor will submit the proposed work scope for the customer’s project. After it is approved by CLEAResult, it will proceed to the Provisional Approval workflow step.  When the work scope has been approved for installation, the project will move to final project submission and NYSERDA will send an auto generated email to the customer, contractor, and Hub letting them know the work scope has been approved and is ready for installation.

This change is expected to be implemented on April 2, 2025.

Refrigerators and Freezers

NYSERDA will be reallocating funding to higher impact measures and no longer provide incentives for refrigerator and freezer upgrades through the EmPower+ program, effective 5:00 p.m. EST March 14, 2025. Projects with submitted and approved refrigerators and freezers will be allowed to proceed.

Onboarding New Contractors

Effective April 2, 2025, EmPower+ will focus the onboarding of new contractors to the following regions:

• North Country
• Capital Region
• Mid-Hudson
• New York City

If there are any questions, please contact Contract support at (800) 284 – 9069 or email at [email protected]

Program: EmPower+
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors
Summary: Heat Pump Water Heater/Natural Gas Clarification
Contact with Questions: Contract support at (800) 284 – 9069 or email at [email protected]

Below is a clarification on the replacement of natural gas-fired domestic hot water heaters with Heat Pump Water Heaters. In the EmPower+ Program Manual, it was indicated that natural gas to Heat Pump Water Heaters was not eligible for Program incentives; however, this is an allowed measure through EmPower+.

If you have an open project that you wish to add a Heat Pump Water Heater to, please submit an email to [email protected] with the enrollment number and water heater details so the project can be rolled back to work scope submission.

Section 5.15 of the Program Manual has been updated to reflect this clarification.

If you have any questions, please contact Contractor Support at 800- 284–9069 or email at [email protected].