As Maryland’s state energy office, the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) will be the applicant for two of the residential-focused Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) rebate programs - the HOMES Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program and the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Program. MEA understands the interest in these programs, and looks forward to making the rebate programs available to the public as soon as possible.
MEA is in the process of designing and developing Maryland’s Section 50121: HOMES Residential Energy Efficiency Rebate Program and Section 50122: High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Program. In November 2023, MEA published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking feedback on Maryland’s potential IRA Rebate Program design. MEA’s IRA Rebate Early Administrative Funds applications were initially submitted for these two programs in January 2024 and were approved by DOE in early July 2024.
Update: In October 2024, the Maryland Energy Administration submitted Maryland's Section 50122 Electrification rebate application to the U.S. Department of Energy. In December 2024, the agency submitted the Section 50121 Home Efficiency Rebates Program application.
MEA will be utilizing Maryland Environmental Services to conduct a procurement for technical assistance in the implementation and administration of the IRA programs. As an active procurement, all inquiries will flow through MES's procurement process. Information will be posted shortly on this website and E Maryland Market Place (EMMA) as to how interested service providers and other parties can participate in this procurement process.
Public Meetings: The Maryland Energy Administration recently held two public comment sessions on the Inflation Reduction Act Home Energy Rebate programs on 9/27/24 and 10/1/24. These presentations, which include an outline of MEA’s proposed approach to both the Section 50121 Energy Efficiency and Section 50122 Electrification programs (subject to DOE approval) and the public comments, can be viewed below:
In addition, a PDF copy of just the presentation can be viewed
here. As part of this presentation, MEA identified that we will be partnering with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development for some of the IRA Rebate Programming.
If you would like to receive updates regarding the upcoming federal incentives, including Inflation Reduction Act rebates, subscribe to email alerts below:
Overview of the anticipated process by which rebates will be made available via the residential-focused IRA rebate programs
- DOE has released the funding opportunity announcement for funding.
- State energy offices, including the Maryland Energy Administration on behalf of the State of Maryland, will then need to develop and submit detailed applications to DOE that propose how each individual state will meet DOE’s requirements and implement their state’s HOMES Rebate and the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate programs.
- Once DOE is satisfied with a state’s proposed implementation process for the residential rebate programs, DOE will enter into a funding agreement with each state energy office.
- Upon DOE entering into a funding agreement with the Maryland Energy Administration, MEA can seek state-level spending authority for the federal funding and begin sourcing any resources that may be needed to help implement new programs of this scale.
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MEA can then issue funding announcements outlining program eligibility requirements and submission instructions for the Maryland-specific HOMES rebate programs.
If you are interested in getting updates on these new federal programs from MEA, as well as other MEA energy programs, please follow MEA on social media at Facebook | X, formerly known as Twitter | LinkedIn.
Will the rebate incentives be available retroactively?
- The Inflation Reduction Act does not allow Home Electrification Rebates to be offered retroactively.
- For the Home Efficiency Rebate Program,
DOE’s frequently asked questions (FAQ) website states in question #25 that "Given the requirement that states must establish programs that ensure compliance with the law (e.g., eligibility of household, technology, program reporting) in addition to their own requirements, it will be difficult to offer rebates for projects completed before program requirements are fully defined and programs are operational" As a result, MEA does not anticipate that retroactive rebates will be eligible for Maryland's Home Efficiency Rebate program.
Additional Information from DOE:
Please note that the Maryland Energy Administration cannot provide tax advice. If you have any tax questions, please contact a licensed tax professional.
Questions related to the IRA rebates not addressed on this website can be directed to irarebates.mea@maryland.gov.
