DEEP Looking to Expand Energy Rebates to Heating Oil Customers

Currently, home heating oil customers do not contribute to the state fund that provides rebates for homeowners who renovate their homes to make them more energy efficient.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is now exploring tacking on a fee to home heating oil bills to allow those customers to be eligible for such discounts.

“By bringing them into the program, having a stable funding source for those efficiencies we can see those customers benefitting where right now they’re often excluded from the program,” said Robert Klee, DEEP’s Commissioner.

All electrical and natural gas customers pay into the program, and the fee is calculated based on usage. For instance, on a roughly $25 Connecticut Natural Gas bill, the energy conservation surcharge amounts to .28 cents. The fee varies by usage and by a provider.

Klee stressed that the agency is merely considering a draft policy on how to bring home heating oil and propane customers into the program. The current proposal floats a five cent per gallon fee onto each gallon of oil a customer purchases.

“This is only a draft,” Klee said.

He says to level the playing for all customers, it makes sense for all energy buyers to have the same options when it comes to state subsidies and the ability to install new HVAC, insulation, and other energy efficiency upgrades with state help.

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