Program/s: EmPower+, Residential Energy Assessments, Comfort Home To: Participating Contractors Summary: Monthly Contractor Update Contact with Questions:[email protected]
NYSERDA Single Family Programs Update Friday, October 4, 2024 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. ET Webinar number: 2534 351 3591 Event password: Energy 1
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.
To: Residential Contractors From: Residential Financing Team Programs: EmPower+, Comfort Home, Residential Energy Assessment Program Summary: GJGNY Residential Financing – Interest Rate Changes Questions: [email protected]
Dear Participating Contractors:
NYSERDA will be making the following updates to the GJGNY Financing Program’s interest rates to support the program’s objectives of increasing efficiency, reducing cost, and making GJGNY residential loans more accessible to low-income households and disadvantaged communities.
1) Change eligibility for the lower rates to only customers that meet the New York State Disadvantaged Community Criteria or reside in a US Census Block Group identified as where 50% or more of the population of the group has a household income of less than or equal to 80% Area Median Income (AMI) (“Designated Areas”). Customers living outside these Designated Areas, and who can provide household income documentation to show their household income is less than or equal to 80% AMI, would also be eligible for the lower rates. Customers not in a Designated Area or unable to show household income of lower or equal to 80% AMI would only be eligible for the higher interest rates. NYSERDA will update the web based geographic eligibility map to reflect this change. We anticipate this update to be completed by November 1, 2024.
2) Recalibrate interest rates to better reflect market conditions. Interest rates for customers within a Designated Area or with household income of less than or equal to 80% AMI will increase from 3.99% to 4.5%, with the option of a 0.5% discount for Smart Energy Loans (SEL) when using automatic payments (ACH). Similarly, for customers outside of Designated Area or with household income greater than 80% AMI, interest rates will increase from 7.49% to 8.00%, with the option of a 0.5% discount for SEL when using ACH.
3) Remove the 0.5% interest rate discount for On-Bill Recovery (OBR) loans. OBR loans have several fees associated with filing documents and title searches, which up until now had been paid by the Program. To date, the Program has incurred fee expenses of over $6.7 million. Removing the 0.5% discount will allow GJGNY to offset some of these expenses and fund additional loans.
These changes will come into effect on November 1, 2024, and will apply to all loan applications received on or after this date.
New Rates Effective for Applications Received On or After November 1, 2024
Programs: EmPower+, Residential Energy Assessments, Comfort Home To: Contractors and Vendors Summary: Call Center Update Questions: Dave Friello
Enhancements to the customer/contractor support system (cases and phone calls) will be released the evening of June 26. During this update you may experience delays in reaching the support team by phone, logging into the case system, or creating a case by email.
Programs: Comfort Home To: All Comfort Home Contractors Summary: Incentive increase effective 7/1/2024 Questions:[email protected] or 888-406-4009
On July 1, 2024, Comfort Home will be launching revised standard package incentives. The incentive updates are meant to help with material price inflation and labor cost increases. The new incentives will apply for assessments and installations submitted for approval on or after July 1, 2024.
The 30-day prompt submission policy applies.
The customer-signed workscope must match the incentives.
Example:
June 10: Customer signs workscope with $1,000 package A incentive
July 2: Upgrade installed
July 10: Installation submitted in Compass
This job qualifies for the new incentive! This installation needs to have a revised workscope that shows the higher incentive and must be signed by the homeowner and submitted in Compass.
Please note that Compass will be offline during a system maintenance window from 7:00am to 8:00am (Eastern) on Monday July 1, 2024.
Program: Comfort Home To: All Comfort Home Contractors Summary: Reminder about knob-and-tube wiring Contact with Questions: 1-888-406-4009 or [email protected]
When insulating, ensure that no insulation is in direct contact with knob-and-tube wiring.
Comfort Home packages require complete measure installation. If 90% or more of attic can be air-sealed and insulated, then the project is eligible for Comfort Home.
A home with knob-and-tube wiring in the attic that doesn’t allow at least 90% of the attic insulation to be installed is not eligible for Comfort Home.
A home with knob-and-tube wiring in the walls is not eligible for Comfort Home Package B (Good Package).
