The state is adjusting its income eligibility criteria for Empower+, which helps tenants and homeowners pay for energy-saving building upgrades. Previous rules made it hard for city households to qualify: since 2010, only 7 percent of the program’s retrofit projects were in the five boroughs.
Mona Abu Rayyan has lived in her 1940s-era house in Kingston, New York, on and off for the past seven years. When she moved back in 2022, she noticed the house was very drafty, her heating bills were extremely high, and no matter how much she turned up the thermostat, it didn’t get warm, she said. At the time, she was also earning less income because she wasn’t working full-time.
Rayyan is one of thousands of New Yorkers, including city residents, who have suffered through cold winters without adequate heat.
New York State has implemented several policies and programs to help residents who are spending a large chunk of their income on electricity and gas to heat, cool and power their homes. The most prominent is EmPower+, run by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which provides single- to four-family households that qualify with energy-efficient upgrades, like adding insulation and air sealing and installing clean heat pumps…