Thousands of Montana residents claimed home energy tax credits
The Inflation Reduction Act assisted over 3 million American families in adding cost-saving clean energy upgrades to their homes.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Aug. 7 that more than 10,000 people in Montana have claimed over $21 million in home energy credits based on their income tax filings for 2023. Across the country, 3.4 million people claimed $8.4 billion worth of credits under regulations put in place by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
“The law has lowered the cost of clean energy upgrades for more than 3.4 million American families, saving them hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars annually on their utility bills for many years to come,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
The amount that would be claimed in credits had originally been estimated at $2.4 billion by the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
The law allows tax filers to claim credits for investing in residential solar electricity in the form of solar battery storage and solar water heating.
Credits have also been granted for home improvements meant to increase energy efficiency. Families invested in electric and natural gas heat pumps, insulation and air sealing to prevent conditioned air from leaking, and heat pump water heaters.
The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest federal investment in clean energy in U.S. history. In addition to tax credits, the law provides incentives for companies to build and utilize renewable energy sources.
When the legislation was being debated in Congress, all of the Republican members of Montana’s congressional delegation joined the rest of the party in opposing the bill. Sen. Jon Tester, the state’s only Democratic member of Congress, voted for the measure, which passed the Senate thanks to a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I fought to make sure this bill is fully paid for and will cut costs for Americans while making us less reliant on foreign adversaries like Russia to power our country. I’ve heard directly from folks in every corner of our state asking me to find solutions that will bring down costs and help our country maintain its place as the leading economic power in the world, and that’s exactly what the Inflation Reduction Act does,” Tester said in an August 2022 statement.
