Acadia Center’s Comments on Rhode Island Heat Pump Accelerator

Acadia Center submitted comments in response to an RFI soliciting comments in support of the design of RI's Heat Pump Accelerator program, drafted in collaboration with me and Ben. The recommendations from Acadia Center are to use the Accelerator funds to target switching moderate-income (MI) electric resistance heating (ERH) customers (as low-income (LI) customers already have a dedicated existing program and funding) to heat pumps by raising the income eligibility threshold for customers able to get an incentive covering 100% of the capital costs. The recommendations target ERH specifically because it is the most expensive form of home heating, and there will always be operational savings when switching from ERH to heat pumps because there is no fuel switching. Acadia Center recommended that the RI Office of Energy Resources, which administrates the Accelerator, collaborate with Rhode Island Energy (RIE) to utilize RIE's current LI incentives program framework as the backbone upon which these funds can be leveraged to assist MI ERH customers who are currently unable to receive the 100% incentive because they are just above the limit allowed by the LI program.