Biden’s Energy Secretary Urges Low-Income Americans To Make Their Homes ‘Energy Efficient’ With Tax Credits

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday that low-income families could benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act if they made expensive upgrades to their home or bought electric cars.

“There are huge opportunities for individuals, especially as they consider perhaps retrofitting their homes to be more energy-efficient,” Granholm said during an interview with The Washington Post. “So, for example, if you wanted to install a heat pump in your home or replace your HVAC system, perhaps it’s gone out, you can get significant tax credits to be able to do that. And, you know, the more moderate or low income you are, the greater the benefits are.”

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August, which included a tax credit for electric battery production and tax credits for various energy-efficient appliances and electric cars.

The cheapest heat pumps cost at least $3,600 and as much as $9,471, according to HVACDirect.com, and installation costs as much as $30,000, according to ThisOldHouse.com. The cheapest electric car, a Chevy Bolt, costs $25,600, according to CarFax.com.

“There’s also — if you want to generate your own energy, it’s a 30 percent tax credit for solar, for small wind. It is — there’s tax credits for making sure you could have, if you want to have, an electric vehicle, of course, $7,500 off the top,” Granholm said. “You can get a tax credit for installing charging equipment in your home and you can have tax credits for installing batteries in your home as a backup to make your home more resilient. Up to about $18,000 worth of tax credits for these clean energy opportunities, appliances and equipment.”

Tesla solar panels cost anywhere from $9,600 to over $48,000, according to SolarReviews.com. The median household income in the United States is $70,784, according to the United States Census Bureau.

“These programs disproportionately benefit the wealthy who can afford to shell out thousands of dollars at the front end to purchase expensive new appliances and retrofit their homes, but fail to actually save people money or reduce emissions,” a spokesperson for Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee told the Washington Times in January, which also noted that the tax credits would only go to those who were required to file income tax returns.

The Energy Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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