Washington’s Kicking Gas campaign said it has received a $1.5 million dollar grant from Washington State’s Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) Program to provide incentive subsidies to homeowners to decarbonize homes in Island County, Washington. Coupled with a second round of funding for both Island and Snohomish Counties from WSU’s Community Energy Efficiency Program, Kicking Gas said it can now greatly expand electrification retrofits for low- to moderate-income households in these counties in 2024 and 2025.
Kicking Gas offers up to $7,500 per household, depending on income and project cost, to help Snohomish County residents with transitioning from wood, propane, natural gas or oil heat to electric heat pumps, which also cool a home in the summer. The program is now expanding to provide subsidies for replacing gas stoves with electric/induction stoves.
“We’re thrilled to be able to use this new funding to help families access affordable, electric heating and cooling as they help to build a resilient, energy-efficient future,” said Derek Hoshiko, Kicking Gas Campaign director.
Kicking Gas is holding information sessions, both in person and online, for homeowners interested in making the switch to electric heat pumps and induction stoves. The next session is online at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24. Sign up for an info session here.
Interested parties can also take a survey at kickgasnow.org to find out their eligibility to receive benefits from the program in the form of subsidies and low-interest financing. Go to www.kickgasnow.org/survey-for-residences.
Just a note: The money for the Washington State’s Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) Program comes from the Climate Commitment Act, which is under threat from Initiative 2117. Initiative 2117 will repeal the Climate Commitment Act, so voting no on 2117 will allow the HEAR Program or others like it to continue to be funded in future years, helping low to moderate income residents to reduce their carbon emissions. That is a benefit for everyone, especially our children and grandchildren.
Does the funding of the CCA come from the extra taxes we pay when we purchase gas for our cars, boats, etc?
Good question.
The CCA is a market-based cap-and-invest program requiring the state’s largest polluters to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Consumers are not taxed.
Another interesting factoid:
The highest prices for gas in Washington state were about $5.55 per gallon and occurred 6 months before the Climate Commitment Act took effect.
In business, it’s a common practice to pass additional production costs onto the consumer. If these costs are not transferred, the business risks failure and potential closure. The belief that such costs would be simply absorbed is, at best, naive and at worst, deceptive on the part of the legislators who crafted the CCA bill.