Contractors, Customers Worried by Cuts to Maryland Energy Efficiency Rebates

Maryland homeowners and contractors are expressing concern over proposed cuts to the EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency rebate program, as state legislators advance legislation that could significantly reduce or eliminate some rebates as early as 2027.

Why It Matters

The EmPOWER Maryland program has provided thousands of Maryland residents with rebates on costly home energy upgrades, from insulation to HVAC systems, helping lower long-term utility costs. Proposed cuts to the program could leave homeowners without financial assistance for major energy-saving improvements and threaten the livelihoods of contractors who rely on the rebate program to drive business.

Maryland is grappling with rising electricity costs driven in part by surging data center energy demand, and lawmakers say reducing the EmPOWER surcharge on utility bills is one of the few short-term tools available to provide relief. However, critics argue that cutting energy efficiency funding will cost consumers more in the long run.

What Happened

The Maryland House of Delegates passed the Utility RELIEF Act, a broad energy bill that includes temporary cuts to EmPOWER Maryland, last week. The legislation is now headed to the Senate, where a vote is expected this week.

EmPOWER Maryland is funded through a surcharge on electric customers’ utility bills and provides rebates to homeowners who make qualifying energy-saving upgrades to their homes. Under the proposed changes, some rebates would be reduced and others eliminated entirely beginning in 2027.

Lawmakers backing the bill argue the surcharge reduction is necessary to deliver near-term relief to Maryland ratepayers struggling with elevated electricity costs. Senator Brian Feldman (D-Montgomery), chair of the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, acknowledged the limited options available to legislators on a short timeline.

“We don’t have huge numbers of tools in the toolbox in terms of the short-term,” Feldman said during a news conference on March 13, 2026, referencing the difficulty of quickly stabilizing energy markets disrupted by data center demand growth.

Homeowners like Angie Norfolk of Grasonville, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, say programs like EmPOWER made a significant difference in their financial lives. Norfolk and her husband received a $10,000 rebate in 2024 after discovering serious structural damage in the crawlspace of their newly purchased home. The rebate allowed them to complete additional energy efficiency improvements, including new insulation, resulting in meaningfully lower monthly energy bills.

“That was one of the good lights at the end of this tunnel,” Norfolk said. “Yeah, we had this bad situation, but we got all this new energy efficiency stuff.”

Contractors are also voicing concern. Matt Hargrove, owner of Total Home Performance, an Eastern Shore energy efficiency contractor, said the rebates are a central driver of customer decisions to move forward with expensive but beneficial home improvements. Reduced or eliminated rebates could directly impact his business and the broader home performance industry in Maryland.

By the Numbers

• $10,000: The rebate one Eastern Shore family received through EmPOWER Maryland in 2024 for energy efficiency upgrades
• 2027: The year proposed cuts to the EmPOWER program would take effect under the Utility RELIEF Act
• Hundreds of dollars: The estimated annual savings on energy bills reported by the Norfolk family after completing rebate-supported improvements
• 1 week: The timeline for the Utility RELIEF Act to move from House passage to a Senate vote
• Multiple rebate categories: The legislation would reduce some rebates and fully eliminate others, affecting a range of home energy upgrade incentives

Zoom Out

Maryland’s situation reflects a national tension between short-term utility bill relief and long-term energy efficiency investment. Across the country, state-level energy efficiency programs funded through utility surcharges have faced political pressure as electricity rates climb, driven by factors including increased demand from artificial intelligence data centers and grid infrastructure costs.

Federal energy efficiency incentive programs, including those established under the Inflation Reduction Act, have also faced uncertainty, placing additional pressure on state-level programs like EmPOWER Maryland to fill the gap for consumers seeking rebates on home upgrades. Cuts at the state level, combined with federal uncertainty, could leave many homeowners with fewer options to offset the upfront cost of efficiency improvements.

Energy efficiency advocates have consistently argued that programs like EmPOWER reduce overall grid demand, helping to moderate electricity prices over time — an argument that adds complexity to the legislative debate in Annapolis.

What’s Next

The Maryland Senate is expected to take up the Utility RELIEF Act this week. If passed by the Senate, the bill would move to Governor Wes Moore for consideration. Advocates opposing the EmPOWER cuts are expected to continue lobbying senators ahead of the vote, while contractors and affected homeowners are urging lawmakers to find alternative methods of delivering utility bill relief that do not reduce energy efficiency incentives.