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Inflation Reduction Act home energy rebates may arrive soon

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Rebates tied to home energy efficiency and created by the Inflation Reduction Act may start flowing to many consumers within months.  

The federal government is issuing $8.8 billion for Home Energy Rebates programs through states, territories and tribes, which must apply for the funding. The U.S. Department of Energy approved the first application for New York on April 18, awarding it an initial $158 million.

The DOE is hopeful New York will open its program to consumers by early summer, according to Karen Zelmar, the agency’s Home Energy Rebates program manager. The state has the fourth-largest total funding allocation, behind California, Texas and Florida.   

The federal rebates — worth up to $14,000 or more per household, depending on a state’s program design — are basically discounts for homeowners and landlords who make certain efficiency upgrades to their property.

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The rebates aim to partially or fully offset costs for efficiency projects like installing electric heat pumps, insulation, electrical panels and Energy Star-rated appliances.

Their value and eligibility vary according to factors like household income, with more money flowing to low- and middle-income earners.

The DOE also expects the programs to save households $1 billion a year in energy costs due to higher efficiency, Zelmar said.

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Eleven other states have also applied for funding: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Many other states are also far along in their application process, Zelmar said.  

“We certainly hope to see all the programs launched … by this time next year, and hopefully much sooner than that for many of the states,” she said.

States must notify the Energy Department they intend to participate by Aug. 16, 2024. Applications are due by Jan. 31, 2025.

These are key details about the rebates

The Inflation Reduction Act earmarked $369 billion in spending for policies to fight climate change, marking the biggest piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. President Biden signed the measure into law in August 2022.

The IRA divided $8.8 billion in total rebate funding between two programs: the Home Efficiency Rebates program and the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program.

New York’s application was approved for the the latter program. So far, just four states — Georgia, Oregon, Indiana and New Mexico — have applied for both.

“I hope that at this time next year we have 50 states with rebate programs,” said Kara Saul Rinaldi, CEO and founder of AnnDyl Policy Group, a consulting firm focused on climate and energy policy.

While their goals are the same — largely, to reduce household energy use and greenhouse gas emissions — the two programs’ approach to household energy savings differs, Saul Rinaldi said.

The Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program

The Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program pays consumers a maximum amount of money for buying specific technologies and services, Saul Rinaldi said.

Here are some examples from the Energy Department:

  • ENERGY STAR electric heat pump water heater — worth up to $1,750
  • ENERGY STAR electric heat pump for space heating and cooling — up to $8,000
  • ENERGY STAR electric heat pump clothes dryer — up to $840
  • ENERGY STAR electric stove, cooktop, range, or oven — up to $840
  • Electric load service center — up to $4,000
  • Electric wiring — up to $2,500
  • Insulation, air sealing and ventilation — up to $1,600

This program pays up to $14,000 to consumers. It’s only available to low- and moderate-income households, defined as being below 150% of an area’s median income. (These geographical income thresholds are outlined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.)

Low-income earners — those whose income is 80% or less of the area median — qualify for 100% of project costs. Others are limited to half of project costs. (Both are subject to the $14,000 cap.)

Renters can also take advantage of the program, as long as they communicate to their landlord about the purchase of an appliance, Zelmar said.

Home Efficiency Rebates program

In contrast, the Home Efficiency Rebates program is technology neutral, Saul Rinaldi said.

The value of the rebates are tied to how much overall energy a household saves via efficiency upgrades. The deeper the energy cuts, the larger the rebates, Saul Rinaldi said.

For example, the program is worth up to $8,000 for households who cut energy use by at least 35%. It’s worth a maximum $4,000 for those who reduce energy by at least 20%.

The program is available to all households, regardless of income. Low-income earners can qualify for the most money, as with the other rebate program.

With Energy Department approval, states can opt to increase the maximum rebate to more than $8,000 for low earners. In this way, the Home Efficiency Rebates’ value can technically exceed that of the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates one, Zelmar said.

How consumers can access the rebates

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Pennylane doubles valuation as Alphabet VC fund takes stake

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French accounting software firm Pennylane has doubled its valuation to 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) in a new 75 million euro funding round.

Pennylane told CNBC that it raised the fresh funds from a host of venture funds, with Sequoia Capital leading the round and Alphabet’s CapitalG, Meritech and DST Global also participating.

Founded in 2020, Pennylane sells what it calls an “all-in-one” accounting platform that’s used by accountants and other financial professionals.

The platform is primarily targeted toward small to medium-sized firms, offering tools for functions spanning expensing, invoicing, cash flow management and financial forecasting.

“We came in tailoring a product that looks a bit like [Intuit’s] QuickBooks or Xero but adapting it to the needs of continental accountants, starting with France,” Pennylane’s CEO and co-founder Arthur Waller told CNBC.

Pennylane currently serves around 4,500 accounting firms and more than 350,000 small and medium-sized enterprises. The startup was previously valued at 1 billion euros in a 2024 investment round.

European expansion

For now, Pennylane only operates in France. However, after the new fundraise, the startup now plans to expand its services across Europe — starting with Germany in the summer.

“It’s going to be a lot of work. It took us approximately five years to have a product mature in France,” Waller said, adding that he hopes to reach product maturity in Germany in a shorter time period of two years.

Pennylane plans to end the year on about 100 million euros of annual recurring revenue — a measure of annual revenue generated from subscriptions that renew each year.

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“We are going to get breakeven by end of the year,” Waller said, adding that Pennylane runs on lower customer acquisition costs than other fintechs. “75% of our costs are R&D [research and development],” he added.

Pennylane also plans to boost hiring after the new funding round. It is looking to grow to 800 employees by the end of 2025, up from 550 currently.

‘Co-pilot’ for accountants

Like many other fintechs, Pennylane is embracing artificial intelligence. Waller said the startup is using the technology to help clients automate bookkeeping and free up time for other things like advisory services.

“Because we have a modern tech stack, we’re able to embed all kinds of AI, but also GenAI, into the product,” Waller told CNBC. “We’re really trying to build a ‘co-pilot’ for the accountant.”

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He added that new electronic invoicing regulations coming into force across Europe are pushing more and more firms to consider new digital products to serve their accounting needs.

“Every business in France within a year from now will have to chose a product operator to issue and receive invoices,” Waller said, calling e-invoicing a “huge market.”

Luciana Lixandru, a partner at Sequoia who sits on the board of Pennylane, said the reforms represent a “massive market opportunity” as the accounting industry is still catching up in terms of digitization.

“The reality is the market is very fragmented,” Lixandru told CNBC via email. “In each country there are one or two decades-old incumbents, and few options that serve both SMBs and their accountants.”

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Bitcoin drops Sunday evening as cryptocurrencies join global market rout

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Bitcoin fell below the $79,000 level as investors braced for more financial market volatility after U.S. equites suffered their worst decline since 2020 on the rollout of President Donald Trump’s restrictive global tariffs.

The price of bitcoin was last lower by 4% at $78,835.07, according to Coin Metrics, after trading above the $80,000 for most of this year — barring a couple brief blips below it amid recent volatility. It’s off its January all-time high by about 34%.

Although the flagship cryptocurrency usually trades like a big tech stock and is often viewed by traders as a leading indicator of market sentiment, it bucked the broader market meltdown last week – holding in the $80,000 to $90,000 range and rising to end the week as stocks tumbled and even gold fell.

Other cryptocurrencies suffered bigger losses overnight. Ether and the token tied to Solana tumbled 9% each.

Bitcoin’s down move triggered a wave of long liquidations, as traders betting on an increase in its price were forced to sell their assets to cover their losses. In the past 24 hours, bitcoin has seen more than $181 million in long liquidations, according to CoinGlass. Ether saw $188 million in long liquidations in the same period.

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Bitcoin has traded mostly above $80,000 in 2025

Rattled investors dumped their holdings of cryptocurrencies, which trade 24 hours, over the weekend as they anticipated further carnage, after Trump’s retaliatory tariffs raised global recession fears and caused investors to sell all risk.

The duties on all imports, in addition to custom tariffs for major trading partners, have sparked worries of a global trade war that could lead the U.S. into a recession. Growing concerns about the far-reaching impact of the tariffs sent markets reeling worldwide.

In the two sessions following the tariff announcement, global stocks wiped out $7.46 trillion in market value based on the market cap of the S&P Global Broad Market Index, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

That figure includes $5.87 trillion lost in the U.S. stock market over those two sessions and another $1.59 trillion loss in market value in other major global markets.

Bitcoin is down 15% in 2025 and, absent a crypto-specific catalyst, is expected to continue moving in tandem with equities as global recession fears overshadow any regulatory tailwinds crypto was expected to benefit from this year.

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China’s tech rally is still just getting started, despite tariffs

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