Trump plans to freeze financing that freeze Biden Energy discounts for consumers

Some states have stopped expanding funds to consumers via discount programs from the BIDen era bound to the energy efficiency of home, due to a freezing of Trump administration on federal financing that was established in January.

The Inflation Reduction Act, adopted in 2022, had reserved $ 8.8 billion in federal funds for consumers through two programs for the Energiereken van Thuis, to be managed by states, areas and the district of Columbia.

Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Rhode Island – which are in different phases of rollouts – have paused or delayed their young programs, referring to Trump administration policy.

The White House on January 27 will set one Freeze the payment of federal funds That conflict with the agenda of President Trump – including initiatives with regard to green energy and climate change – as a reason to stop the payment of discount funds to consumers.

That fate of that freezing is still in the air. A federal court issued an order on Tuesday continued to block The policy for example. However, it seems that in some cases agencies had withheld financing in spite of previous judgments from the court, according to Propublica Reporting.

In any case, the freezing – or its threat – seems to have an influence on the State discount programs.

“Colora dance that would receive the home promotions are still locked up by the Trump administration in the holst of winter,” said Ari Rosenblum, a spokesperson for the Colorado Energy Office, in an e-mail statement.

The US Department of Energy and the White House did not have a request for comments from CNBC sent back to the Freeze Funding.

Consumers are eligible for a maximum of $ 8,000 in discounts in the home efficiency and a maximum of $ 14,000 in home electrification and devices, per federal legislation.

The discounts cover the costs of the afterwards of houses and upgrading devices to be more energy efficient. Such tweaks are intended to reduce consumer utility accounts and at the same time reduce the planet -warming carbon emissions.

California, the District Columbia, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Wisconsin had also launched phases of their discount programs in recent months, according to Data on an archived federal website.

All states and areas (except South Dakota) had applied for federal discount financing and the US Department of Energy had approved the financing for each of them.

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The Office of Resiliency of the Governor of Arizona said that the programs for home coverings in the house would be paused until the federal funds have been cleared.

“Due to the current federal executive orders, Memoranda of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and communication from the US Department of Energy, financing for all efficiency Arizona programs is currently not available,” said it in a announcement Friday.

Rhode Island paused new applications from January 27 due to “current uncertainty” with financing the inflation reduction ACT and executive orders, according to To his Office of Energy Resources.

The Georgia Environmental Finance Authority launched a pilot program for the discounts in the autumn of 2024. That program is underway, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.

However, the timeline for a full program launch that is initially planned for 2025 “is delayed until we receive more information from the US Department of Energy,” explains Georgia’s spokesperson in an e-mail.

However, not all states have pressed the pause button: it seems that Maine is still progressing, for example.

“The program remains open to those who are eligible,” said Afton Vigue, a spokesperson for the Energy Office of the Maine Governor, in an e-mail.

The status of discounts in the eight other states and districts that have launched their programs is unclear. Their respective energy departments or offices of the governor have not returned any requests for comments.

While the Trump government was withdrawn on January 29 and ordered a freezing of federal subsidies and loans – two days after the first release – the White House said that the freezing remained completely in force.

Democratic lawyers -general in 22 states and the district of Columbia A lawsuit tightened Against the Trump government, claim that the freezing is illegal. The White House has claimed that it is necessary to take care of the expenditure in accordance with Trump’s presidential agenda.

David Terry, chairman of the National Association of State Energy officials, said that he is optimistic that the discount financing will soon be released to states.

“I don’t think for these two specific programs [the freeze] Will come across the programs, “Terry said.” I see signs of an interest in helping them move forward and collaborate with the states to implement them. “