The Department of Energy has not required states to collect enough information from recipients of home appliance rebates to prevent fraud and abuse, the DOE inspector general said in a report released Monday.
The report focused on a $4.3 billion program passed in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act called the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program, which offers rebates to all Americans but gives bigger checks to economically struggling households.
It’s one of two major appliance rebate programs in the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark clean energy bill that the inspector general has repeatedly warned is vulnerable to fraud. The report says the rebate program “will be a high-value target for individuals and criminal groups to exploit.”
It calls on DOE to strengthen fraud protection by using best practices established by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a watchdog body that oversees coronavirus aid.
