Program Announcements from 8/14/2025 to 9/04/2025

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.

Program/s: EmPower+, Residential Energy Assessments, Comfort Home 
To: Participating Contractors 
Summary: Monthly Contractor Update 
Contact with Questions: residential.programs@nyserda.ny.gov  

NYSERDA Home Modernization Monthly Contractor Webinar   
Friday, September 5, 2025 
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. ET
 
Webinar number: 2538 916 5659
Event Password: Energy1

All attendees must register prior to joining the event. This process will allow you to add the meeting to your calendar and provides each individual with a custom link to join the meeting. Please do not share your link with anyone. To register, please click here.

All webinars are recorded and links to the recordings are available on the Contractor Support site. 

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.

Program: EmPower+
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors
Summary: Additional Funding for Provisional Approvals
Contact with Questions: Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069 or email at support.residential@nyserda.ny.gov

To support energy affordability and housing upgrades for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers NYSERDA has allocated an additional $15 million in funding from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to advance approximately 1,600 pipeline projects previously held in Provisional Approval under the EmPower+ program. This investment ensures certainty and stability for the EmPower+ program which remains a priority for Governor Hochul and the State’s efforts to serve low- and moderate-income households through energy efficiency and electrification, and follows as part of a responsible, transparent approach to addressing the needs of New Yorkers.

EmPower+ reviewed the Provisional Approval queue and released eligible projects on August 8, 2025. Participating contractors receive emails when their projects are released.

Program/s: EmPower+ and WH&S
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors and WH&S Contractors
Summary: KEDNY Weatherization Health & Safety Pilot Introduction
Contact: Please reach out to Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069 with any questions

KEDNY Weatherization Health & Safety Pilot Introduction
Thursday, August 28th, 2025
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. ET

This webinar is an overview of the upcoming KEDNY WH&S Pilot for interested Contractors. All attendees must register prior to joining the event. This process will allow you to add the meeting to your calendar and provides each individual with a custom link to join the meeting. Please do not share the link with anyone. To register, please click here.

Program: EmPower+
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors and Hubs
Summary: WAP EmPower+ Application Submissions
Contact with Questions: info.residential@nyserda.ny.gov

Effective August 1, 2025, participating contractors are no longer able to submit applications to the program on behalf of a customer. This will remain in effect through the end of 2025.

During this time, Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) contractors participating in the EmPower+ Program can still use the combined Weatherization and EmPower+ paper application and submit it to the program. A copy of the combined EmPower+ WAP application can be found in Section 3.2a of the Program Manual. This was covered on the August 1, 2025, Home Modernization monthly webinar which can be referenced here.

NYSERDA is coordinating a MyEnergy training for WAP contractors at the times listed below. Please register using the links provided if you are interested in attending:

Session 1 – August 21, 2025, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. ET – Register here.
Session 2 – August 28, 2025, 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. ET – Register here.

Program: EmPower+
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors and Hubs
Summary: Heating Measures and GJGNY Loans and Heating Repair
Contact with Questions: Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069 or email at support.residential@nyserda.ny.gov 

Financing Heating Systems

With the ending of EmPower+ incentives for fossil fuel heating equipment, EmPower+ will be adding two new measures in NYHEP to allow for the financing of furnaces/boilers through Green Jobs Green New York (GJGNY):​

• Furnace Finance Only (FRNC_FO)​
• Boiler Finance Only (BOIL_FO)​

These measures are to be used only when a contractor submits the measure for a loan through GJGNY. The measures will not receive EmPower+ incentives.

Heating and Hot Water Heater Repairs

Heating system and domestic hot water heating repairs will continue to be an eligible health and safety measure through EmPower+. If the total of all Health and Safety measures are greater than 30% of the project total, the cost of health and safety will count towards project level cost effectiveness.

When entering a heating or hot water heater repair, contractors will be required to list the issue and itemized costs in the notes section. An example of an acceptable note is provided below:

• Furnace turns on and off. Home will not maintain temperature. New limit switch $150, New inducer motor $300

Per existing program requirements, the maximum incentive for heating system and domestic hot water heating repairs is $500 for low income and $250 for moderate income. 

The program is currently working with OTDA on a plan for working with low-income customers with no-heat situations during heating season. 

The above topics were covered on the August 1, 2025, Home Modernization monthly webinar which can be referenced here.

If you have any questions, please contact Contractor Support at 800- 284–9069 or email at support.residential@nyserda.ny.gov. 

Program: EmPower+
To: EmPower+ Participating Contractors and Hubs
Summary: EmPower+ Application Submission Guidance
Contact with Questions: info.residential@nyserda.ny.gov

With the temporary suspension of an EmPower+ contractor’s ability to submit applications on behalf of a customer, the Program would like to remind Participating Contractors that they should only be sending customers to the Hubs when the customer needs specific assistance offered by that Hub. This can include assistance with a specific language translation, if available from the Hub, or technological assistance if the customer wants to submit an online application and does not have access to a computer or is having difficulty navigating the online platform. Participating Contractors can also connect a customer with TRC, through 1-866-NYSERDA, for assistance with completing an EmPower+ Application.

Contractors should not be sending bulk applications to the Hubs to submit on behalf of the contractor. Contractors can provide a customer with a campaign code that tags the contractor in MyEnergy or furnish them with a paper application that the customer can fill out and mail in. If a contractor needs assistance with campaign codes, they can submit an inquiry to TRC through info.residential@nyserda.ny.gov.

Campaign Codes will be covered in the September Home Modernization Webinar, if you wish to attend, please register here.

If you have any questions, please contact info.residential@nyserda.ny.gov.

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.​  

Program: Comfort Home
To: All Comfort Home Contractors
Summary: Program Announcements
Contact with Questions: Keith Bohling

Details:

1. Please ask your customer if they’ve participated in another program for weatherization work. Prior participation may lower incentives. Installing Package C (Windows) to a home upgraded in the last year with EmPower+ permits a $1,000 Comfort Home Package C incentive. If that EmPower+ upgrade was over a year ago, the Package C incentive is $2,000.
2. Customers are eligible for no more than one audit per year. If an audit was delivered through the REA program, then NYSERDA will not pay an incentive for a Comfort Home audit within the same year.
3. The goal of the assessment is to model the expected project and expected savings. That means that the post-work blower door test “expectation” should be entered. It can be trued up during the installation workflow step, but a best guess should be entered during the Assessment workflow step. The expected post-work blower door test value should be lower than the pre-work value.
4. NYSERDA is reducing the data collection and data entry requirements for Comfort Home. 30 fields have been removed. This change affects new enrollments immediately. Previously created enrollments that are already in progress will reflect the original field requirements.
5. A new feature is being added to the Package B functionality: If the improved attic insulation is being installed on the attic roof deck, the Package B will become available and a checkbox to indicate that Package B is being added for attic gable walls will become available. Check that box if the Package B incentive should be applied because attic walls are being insulated and air-sealed.
6. On the Assessment Report: An issue with % savings on page 1 has been corrected. 
7. On the Assessment Report: The existing condition stacked bar chart for heating load contributions has been updated to resolve an issue with the ceiling load display. The modeled savings were not previously impacted, this update just resolves a report display issue.
8. On the Loan ProForma report export: An electric savings calculation issue has been corrected. 
9. On the Loan ProForma report export: Dollar savings per fuel type is now being calculated and included on the report.

No Announcements

No Announcements