Florida Budget Includes IRA Money

All 50 states, DOE says, have rebate funding approved or an application in the works

BRAND NEW BUDGET: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a $116.5 billion state budget that includes more than $346.3 million in federal money for rebates for consumers who purchase qualified high-efficiency HVAC equipment. DeSantis had turned down the money last year. (Courtesy of the Office of Gov. Ron DeSantis)

A year after rejecting federal funding for an Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) program designed to subsidize the purchase of high-efficiency residential HVAC equipment and other appliances, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has quietly accepted the money for his state’s new fiscal year.

His reversal comes as the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reports that all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and all five inhabited U.S. territories, have either formally applied for IRA rebate funding or have signaled the intention to do so.

The money, more than $346.3 million, is Florida’s share of the IRA’s Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) program, which will offer direct-to-consumer rebates for the purchase of qualifying appliances, including up to $8,000 for a heat pump. The program also provides rebates for the electrical work, such as panel upgrades, that some homes may need to accommodate such appliances.

HEAR is for low- and moderate-income (up to 150% of the area median income) households; rebates are capped at $14,000 per household. Another IRA program, Home Efficiency Rebates (HER), will provide rebates for qualified energy-efficient HVAC equipment but also for energy-saving home improvements such as new windows and added insulation. The HER program is for homeowners at all income levels.

Last year, DeSantis vetoed federal funding that would have helped the state administer a HEAR program in Florida, a move that put the program on hold for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. But the budget for 2024-2025, approved in March by both houses of the Florida Legislature, included the federal grant.

DeSantis signed a $116.5 billion budget in June after trimming about $1 billion from the legislature’s proposal. Florida’s new fiscal year began in July.

DeSantis is a former U.S. congressman from Florida and is in his second term as governor. A year ago, he was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race early this year.

DeSantis’ office did not respond to requests for comment on his about-face.

The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law two years ago this month; its HVAC and home-efficiency rebate programs are to be run by individual states and territories.

So far, 10 states have had applications for rebate funding approved by the DOE, but only two, Wisconsin and New York, have rebates available, according to the DOE’s rebate tracker. Twelve other states, plus Washington, D.C., have submitted applications, and the rest of the states and all five inhabited U.S. territories are all preparing applications, according to the DOE.

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Matt Jachman is an editor at the ACHR NEWS. He has 30-plus years of experience in community journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English from Wayne State University in Detroit.