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South Dakota opts out of Inflation Reduction Act energy rebates

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A handful of states have rolled out rebates to consumers who make their homes more energy-efficient, just months after New York became the first state to do so, in May.

Meanwhile, South Dakota officials in August declined the federal funding, which is tied to two new programs created by the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark climate law enacted in 2022.

The IRA earmarked $8.8 billion for consumers via two Home Energy Rebates programs.

Consumers can access up to $8,000 of Home Efficiency Rebates, and up to $14,000 of Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates.

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Together, the two rebate programs aim to defray — or in some cases fully offset — the cost of retrofitting homes and upgrading appliances to be more energy-efficient. Such tweaks can help consumers cut their utility bills while also reducing planet-warming carbon emissions, officials said.

The two programs have varying rules that determine which consumers are eligible and how much money they can access. In some cases, rebates will depend on household income and a home’s overall energy reduction.

Nearly every state has indicated it will launch a rebate program for residents, according to a U.S. Department of Energy spokesperson.

State officials had an August deadline to officially decline the federal funds. They have a Jan. 31, 2025 deadline to submit a program application to the DOE.

South Dakota is the only state so far to have signaled publicly that it won’t administer the rebates.

“With good faith, we did look into this,” Jim Terwilliger, commissioner of the South Dakota Bureau of Finance and Management, said during a July 30 appropriations hearing. “We just don’t believe that it’s the right thing for South Dakota.”

Here are the states that have applied

States, which administer the federal funds, have some leeway relative to program design. They must apply for funding and can distribute rebates to consumers after their application is approved.

New York launched the first phase of its rebates May 30.

Five others — Arizona, Maine, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Wisconsin — have since launched rebate programs, too, according to U.S. Department of Energy data as of Sept. 24.

“I’m expecting more and more to roll out,” said Kara Saul-Rinaldi, president and CEO of AnnDyl Policy Group, a consulting firm focused on climate and energy policy.

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Many more states, as well as Washington, D.C., have submitted applications or had them approved, according to DOE data: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

Together, these 26 states plus the District of Columbia have applied for $4 billion in total funding so far, the DOE said.

The rebates are a new program, and “complex government programs like these take time and coordination to set up,” according to a DOE spokesperson.

“The Inflation Reduction Act put states in charge of designing and implementing Home Energy Rebate programs that fit their local needs,” the spokesperson wrote in an e-mail. “As each state has different resources and capabilities, each state’s timeline will be different.”  

South Dakota is not participating

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024.

Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images

However, South Dakota officials in August signaled they wouldn’t participate, the lone state so far to decline the federal rebate funding.

“South Dakota will have no part in facilitating the Green New Deal,” Ian Fury, a spokesperson for Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, said in an e-mailed statement.

States had an Aug. 16, 2024 deadline to officially decline the funds.

“We don’t think the administrative burden and the expense of administering a program like that is the appropriate thing to do, and we generally disagree with the policy,” Terwilliger, of the South Dakota Bureau of Finance and Management, said in a July hearing.

The Inflation Reduction Act allows states to use up to 20% of its funding for administrative purposes.

Fifty-one states and territories have applied to DOE for early administrative funding, the agency said.

The $68.6 million of federal money that had been set aside for South Dakota rebates will be redistributed among participating states.

Fury also noted this isn’t the first time South Dakota has rejected federal spending. It was the only state to reject extended unemployment benefits in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, Fury said.

The Green New Deal is a climate-change policy initiative supported by congressional Democrats starting around 2019. Bipartisan legislation to create an energy rebate program had existed almost a decade earlier, like the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act in 2010.

The concept of consumer rebates tied to energy efficiency “predates the Green New Deal by many years,” said Saul-Rinaldi.

Florida reverses course

It appears Florida officials reversed course from their original stance on the rebates.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 had vetoed the state’s authority to spend about $5 million of federal funds to administer the energy rebate program. At the time, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services told CNBC that Florida wouldn’t be applying for the rebates as a result.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Republican National Convention on July 16, 2024.

Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Now, Florida is preparing for a soft launch of the rebate programs in late 2024 and a full launch in early 2025, according to information on a state website.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services didn’t return a request for comment on the change in position.

‘Every state is approaching [its program] differently’

At a high level, consumers will be able to get the rebates at the point of sale, when they buy an appliance directly from a retailer or from a qualified contractor who’s helping a household complete an efficiency project.

“Every state is approaching [its program] differently, for many reasons,” Saul-Rinaldi said.

Many are rolling them out in phases. For example, New Mexico is starting by offering a $1,600 rebate for low-income consumers in single-family homes who buy insulation from a participating retailer.

Similar to other states, qualifying New Mexico residents will be able to later access additional rebates such as:

  • $8,000 for an ENERGY STAR-certified electric heat pump for space heating and cooling;
  • $4,000 for an electrical panel;
  • $2,500 for electrical wiring;
  • $1,750 for an ENERGY STAR-certified electric heat pump water heater;
  • $1,600 for air sealing; and
  • $840 for an ENERGY STAR-certified electric heat pump clothes dryer and/or an electric stove.

Consumers and contractors should consult their state energy department website to learn more about their specific programs and eligibility, Saul-Rinaldi said.

The U.S. Energy Department suggests households don’t wait to accomplish necessary home energy upgrades or projects if their state hasn’t formally rolled out rebates. They may be eligible for other federal programs, “including tax credits, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and other state, local, and utility programs,” the agency said.

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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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Buffett denies social media rumors after Trump shares wild claim that investor backs president crashing market

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Berkshire Hathaway responds to 'false reports' on social media

Warren Buffett went on the record Friday to deny social media posts after President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social a fan video that claimed the president is tanking the stock market on purpose with the endorsement of the legendary investor.

Trump on Friday shared an outlandish social media video that defends his recent policy decisions by arguing he is deliberately taking down the market as a strategic play to force lower interest and mortgage rates.

“Trump is crashing the stock market by 20% this month, but he’s doing it on purpose,” alleged the video, which Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

The video’s narrator then falsely states, “And this is why Warren Buffett just said, ‘Trump is making the best economic moves he’s seen in over 50 years.'”

The president shared a link to an X post from the account @AmericaPapaBear, a self-described “Trumper to the end.” The X post itself appears to be a repost of a weeks-old TikTok video from user @wnnsa11. The video has been shared more than 2,000 times on Truth Social and nearly 10,000 times on X.

Buffett, 94, didn’t single out any specific posts, but his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway outright rejected all comments claimed to be made by him.

“There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false,” the company said in a statement Friday.

CNBC’s Becky Quick spoke to Buffett Friday about this statement and he said he wanted to knock down misinformation in an age where false rumors can be blasted around instantaneously. Buffett told Quick that he won’t make any commentary related to the markets, the economy or tariffs between now and Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 3.

‘A tax on goods’

While Buffett hasn’t spoken about this week’s imposition of sweeping tariffs from the Trump administration, his view on such things has pretty much always been negative. Just in March, the Berkshire CEO and chairman called tariffs “an act of war, to some degree.”

“Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!” Buffett said in the news interview with a laugh. “And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?'”

During Trump’s first term, Buffett opined at length in 2018 and 2019 about the trade conflicts that erupted, warning that the Republican’s aggressive moves could cause negative consequences globally.

“If we actually have a trade war, it will be bad for the whole world … everything intersects in the world,” Buffett said in a CNBC interview in 2019. “A world that adjusts to something very close to free trade … more people will live better than in a world with significant tariffs and shifting tariffs over time.”

Buffett has been in a defensive mode over the past year as he rapidly dumped stocks and raised a record amount of cash exceeding $300 billion. His conglomerate has a big U.S. focus and has large businesses in insurance, railroads, manufacturing, energy and retail.

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