This story was originally produced by the New Hampshire Bulletin, an independent local newsroom that allows NHPR and other outlets to republish its reporting.
The state’s Department of Energy is slated to hire three people to manage two pots of federal dollars – one for efficiency and home electrification rebates, and the other for outage prevention and grid resiliency.
The bulk of $568,000 in Inflation Reduction Act money accepted by the Executive Council on Wednesday will go toward two temporary program specialists, funded through August 2025. They will be tasked with drafting and submitting applications to the U.S. Department of Energy for the home efficiency, electrification, and appliance rebate programs. If the funds are awarded, the staff will be responsible for standing up the programs in New Hampshire and administering them day to day.
The federal programs award grants to state energy offices to launch their own local home rebate programs related to energy efficiency and home electrification.
A third program specialist will be hired to manage $6.6 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds dedicated to preventing outages and enhancing the resilience of the electric grid, with a focus on assisting utilities in the state.
“These funds will be used by the Department of Energy to provide grants to electric distribution utilities in the state to complete improvements to their distribution systems that reduce the frequency and duration of outages,” documents filed with the Executive Council said.
The program is expected to last five years, the DOE wrote, and the administering position is expected to cost $100,000 per year.
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