Program: EmPower+ To: EmPower+ Contractors and Regional Clean Energy Hubs Summary: Clarification of EmPower+ applications with HEAP award letters dated 10/1/2023 and later Contact with Questions:Empower.residential@nyserda.ny.gov
The EmPower+ program team is clarifying a miscommunication made during the Single-Family Residential Contractor webinar on March 1, 2024.
During the webinar, it was stated that EmPower+ Applications with Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) award letters would be accepted, and the application would be placed on hold. To clarify, this is for HEAP recipients in Long Island who would otherwise not be eligible for the EmPower+ program. HEAP customers for the rest of New York can continue to use HEAP award letters for EmPower+ application approval at the $10,000 incentive cap. When OTDA funding is available, these projects will be eligible for $20,000 rather than $10,000. The program’s three year look back is still in effect.
If there are any questions on this, please reach out to contractor support at 1-800-284-9069.
Program: EmPower+ To: EmPower+ Contractors Summary: Contractors must provide a copy of the Home Energy Assessment to customers Contact with Questions:If there are any questions on this, please reach out to contractor support at 1-800-284-9069.
The EmPower+ program has been receiving many customer complaints about customers not receiving copies of their home energy assessment. Starting on February 13, 2024, CLEAResult will verify that the home energy assessment report was generated in NYHEP as part of final project review. If the report is not present, the project will be pushed back to the contractor to generate the report and provide it to the customer. After the report has been provided to the customer, the contractor can resubmit the project.
Section 5.17 of the Program Manual specifies “The participating contractor shall provide Program participants with a finalized home energy assessment report within 14 calendar days of site visit. The report shall be generated from Program-approved software and include a detailed workscope proposal that identifies measures and pricing for improving the energy efficiency, comfort and safety of the home. The report shall include all energy efficiency, comfort, health and safety opportunities that exist in the home regardless of type of service(s) the participating contractor offers (i.e., a participating contractor with heating certification needs to identify applicable envelope issues in the report) while adhering to the policies and procedures.”
Moving forward, quality assurance inspections will also include an inquiry with customers to see if home energy assessment reports were provided. Initially, scores will not be diminished if a home energy assessment report was not provided to the customer; however, the contractor will be notified to send a copy of the home energy assessment report to the customer. If it is determined that a contractor is not providing their customers with a home energy assessment on a regular basis, CLEAResult Quality Control will work with the contractor to help them remediate this.
In addition to being a Program requirement, upcoming funding from the Inflation Reduction Act will make home energy assessment reports a requirement, where NYSERDA may need to show proof the home energy assessment report was delivered to the customer.
If there are any questions on this, please reach out to contractor support at 1-800-284-9069.
Programs: EmPower+, Residential Energy Assessments, Comfort Home To: Contractors Summary: BPI Training and Certificates Contact with Questions:ngrid.com/bpicertified or email wfinfo@nyserda.ny.gov
NYSERDA and National Grid are offering significantly discounted Building Performance Institute (BPI) training and certifications for qualifying individuals and businesses.
Eligible BPI training and certification pathways offered at a special discounted rate of $150 include:
• Building Science Principles
• Building Analyst Technician
• Building Analyst Professional
• Multifamily Building Analyst
• Air Leakage Control Installer
• Infiltration and Duct Leakage
This special offer is open to individuals who live in:
2) National Grid electric or natural gas utility service territory (Long Island, NYC Metro, or Upstate NY).
Businesses that are Woman-owned, Minority-owned, Indigenous-owned, or Veteran-owned businesses are eligible to have any employees receive training at the discounted rate. Applications can be submitted online .
Programs: EmPower+, Residential Energy Assessments, Comfort Home To: Participating Contractors Summary: Monthly Contractor Update Contact with Questions:Empower.residential@nyserda.ny.gov
NYSERDA Single Family Programs Update
Friday, May 3, 2024
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. ET
Webinar number 2538 275 6538
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.
To: Contractors and Stakeholders Regarding Programs: EmPower+ Summary: Updated EmPower+ Pricing and Fuel Rates Contact: Please reach out to Contractor Support at 1-800-284-9069 with any questions
EmPower+ measure pricing and Program fuel rates have been updated and are effective as of February 23, 2024.
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.
EmPower+ Program fuel rates for 2024 have been updated and posted on the Contractor Support website in Section 5.12 of the 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 February 23, 2024. 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 2021-2023 SC1 3-year average. Delivered fuels are based upon the NYSERDA New York Home Pricing Monitoring Program 2022-2023 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.