New Trump rules make it more costly to electrify North Carolina homes

In the rugged mountains of Ashe County, North Carolina, woodstoves and propane heat are common — and money tends to be tight. That’s especially true for families still recovering from Hurricane Helene nearly two years later.

Wood is cheap and easy enough to come by in the forested region. But propane has to be trucked in and can be among the most expensive ways to heat a home in the United States.

That’s why Beth Sorrell has recruited dozens of people in this rural northwestern corner of North Carolina for a government initiative that pays them to swap out fossil-fueled appliances for high-efficiency electric versions — saving households hundreds or potentially thousands of dollars per year.

Of the 50-odd recruits she’s identified for the rebate program, about 80% hope to replace a fossil-fueled heat source, Sorrell estimates. The same goes for her own household: She and her husband plan to install a mini-split heat pump system at their West Jefferson home to use instead of their propane heater.

But Sorrell and her recruits might be among the last to access these federal tax incentives, which were created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

Thanks to new guidelines from the Trump administration, households are no longer able to use the rebates to replace fossil-fueled appliances with electric versions.

“That will hurt people if they can’t switch from a furnace,” lamented Sorrell, who this spring started working as a clean energy navigator for Energy Funds for All, an alliance of nonprofits in the Carolinas. ​“That would make a big difference.”

States with appliance rebate schemes already in place have three months to comply with the new terms, which don’t apply to a related program that provides cash back for homewide efficiency upgrades.

North Carolina and 12 other states have already begun awarding the appliance incentives; only South Dakota has opted out of the program. Officials in Raleigh say they’ll announce the new guidelines by August 31.

Clean energy advocates are exploring legal action against the directive, which they argue is a clear violation of the Biden-era climate law that created the rebates.

“This is a very illegal, explicit ploy to satisfy fossil fuel companies,” said Meech Carter, the clean energy campaigns director for the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters Foundation and a leader in the Energy Funds for All effort.

Organizers are also drumming up as many applications as they can while the old rules still apply. Many households will not be able to afford the upgrade to clean appliances unless they act before the changes in August — or Trump’s order gets struck down.

“We know that electric appliances are more efficient than their traditional, fossil-fueled counterparts, [which] we also know are causing significant health impacts, like respiratory diseases and more,” Carter said. ​“To narrow this program to not support transitioning away from fossil fuels … It’s not increasing affordability for residents. It’s actually causing more health problems in the long term.”

“It’s about cost savings”

In January 2025, North Carolina became the first state in the country to launch the appliance and the home efficiency rebates together. Packaged by state officials as Energy Saver North Carolina, the initiatives were rolled out gradually, starting in two counties and expanding to all 100 earlier this year. They offer up to $14,000 for appliance electrification and improved efficiency and, for the lowest-income participants, up to $16,000 for insulation and other whole-home energy-saving measures.

The program was North Carolina’s first effort to support the replacement of fossil-fueled appliances with those powered by electricity. This electrification process serves multiple goals.

One is cutting carbon pollution. State officials estimate that household appliances that burn gas, propane, and other fuels account for nearly 5% of North Carolina’s net greenhouse gas pollution. Improving public health is another aim: The same devices produce smog- and soot-forming emissions that a growing body of evidence shows can get trapped indoors and far exceed levels deemed safe.

But above all, Energy Saver NC is designed to help Tar Heels save money.

Only low- and middle-income households qualify for the rebates. As of the first quarter of this year, nearly 150 such households have shaved an average of $880 off their yearly utility bills, according to program officials.

Emily Hurd, program director with Bright Spaces, the platform supporting the Electrify the Triad campaign in Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, and surrounding counties, said some Energy NC participants are motivated by the desire to protect their health and to lower their carbon footprint. ​“But overwhelmingly,” she said, ​“it’s about cost savings.”

A spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality said the agency hasn’t tracked how many Energy Saver NC rebates have led to the replacement of fossil-fueled appliances, nor does it have any comment on the Trump guidance.

Even if the rules stand, eligible households can still use Energy Saver NC to swap in more-efficient electric options.

For one, the prohibition on ​“fuel switching” does not affect the whole-home portion of the program. If participants can show that replacing a fossil-fueled furnace with a heat pump will help them cut their energy use by 20% or more, they can still access this funding. So far, these home-efficiency upgrades have accounted for far more rebates in North Carolina than the appliance-focused ones, including over 100 pieces of ​“heating equipment,” per the state.

Despite the Trump administration’s changes, the appliance program may still be helpful. Nearly two-thirds of households in North Carolina rely on electric heat, but many use old-school electric resistance heating. They can still swap out these old appliances for new, clean, efficient heat pumps.

Still, given Trump’s latest guidelines, some homeowners in North Carolina and beyond will have to keep burning fossil fuels.

Those who rely on delivered fuel tend to face the steepest costs, and so have the most to lose from the changes. Carter said many rebate applicants with oil or propane heaters pay $500 per month for heat alone. ​“That does not even include their electric bill,” she said.

But households with utility-supplied gas could suffer as well, according to Dan Sargent, CEO of Cary-based Preserving Home, an organization that helps households access a range of grants to improve home efficiency. ​“They’ve essentially eliminated the ability to fuel-switch for space heating,” he said.

The Piedmont Environmental Alliance, together with allied groups, examined 19 multifamily affordable housing properties in Winston-Salem and found more than 1,500 aging gas appliances, said Will Eley, the group’s green economy program director.

“We still have high hopes of leveraging rebate dollars to help those families make their homes healthier and more affordable,” Eley said over email. ​“But The White House is, yet again, prioritizing Big Oil to the detriment of working class families in North Carolina.