Rebates and Financing:

Long Island Green Homes

Thanks to the Long Island Green Homes program sponsored by the Town of Babylon on Long Island, all homeowners in Babylon with high energy bills are eligible for a comprehensive home energy retrofit. You will be making energy-saving improvements to your home with almost no upfront costs, resulting in lower utility bills for you and less pollution for everyone. The Long Island Green Homes program pays for these energy-saving home improvements by means of "benefit assessment financing". This special form of assessment allows the town to pay the contractor for the full cost of the home energy solution up to a maximum of $12,000. The homeowners re-pay the program monthly with the money saved on their utility bills.

A portion of the money spent each month on your utility bill can now be used to make your home more comfortable, energy efficient, durable and healthy instead of continuing to pay for more wasted energy. Your monthly payments will, in most cases, be less than what you're paying now, so you will have extra cash to keep in your pocket too. This is a special opportunity and we encourage all Babylon residents to take advantage of it!

Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) Rebates

LIPA has partnered with "Home Performance with ENERGY STAR" to transform the way energy efficiency services are delivered to existing 1-4 family homes and to bring incentives to homeowners. To qualify for incentives and financing options offered through the Program, the energy efficiency improvements must beevaluated through a comprehensive Home Energy Assessment and installed by an approved contractor such as Powersmith who participates in the "Home Performance with ENERGY STAR" program.

Customer incentives are based on the type of fuel used to heat the home. Incentives include both primary and supplemental measures and are capped, per residential unit, at $5,000 for homes with electric heat and $3,000 for homes with Central Air Conditioning (CAC) that are heated with oil or propane. Also gas heated homes with Central Air Conditioning are temporarily eligible for LIPA incentives and subject to the $3,000 cap.

Federal Tax Credits

Take advantage of federal tax credits available for a number of energy-efficient home improvements. The Existing Home Retrofit Tax Credit (Tax Code Section 25C) states that credits are available for 30 percent of the cost of materials, up to a $1,500 lifetime limit, installed in 2009 & 2010 (for existing homes only) of the following products:

Building Envelope components (Installation costs not included):

• Insulation material or system
• Exterior window, skylight, door, storm window or storm door with a U factor of .3 or below
• Metal or asphalt roofs that resist heat gain

Qualified Energy products (Installation costs possibly included):

• Electric heat pump water heaters that yield an energy factor of at least 2.0 in the standard Department of Energy test procedure
• Electric heat pumps and central air conditioners that achieve the highest efficiency tier established by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency as of 1/1/09
• Natural gas, propane or oil water heaters with an energy factor of at least .82 or thermal efficiency of at least 90 percent
• Biomass burning stoves with a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75 percent as measured using a lower heating value
• Natural gas and propane furnaces that achieve an annual fuel utilization efficiency rate of not less than 95
• Natural gas, propane, or oil water boilers and oil furnaces that achieve an annual fuel utilization rate of not less than 90
• Advanced main air conditioning fans with annual electricity use of no more than 2 percent of the total annual energy use of the furnace

The energy-efficiency home products must be “placed in service” between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010. The credits are only valid for improvements made to the taxpayer's principal residence.

Call us at 1-631-647-4701 for more information!